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house tour part 2

Make It Perfect

.Posting from the GREEN house!.

Hello INTERNET! We have been internet-less at home for two weeks. At first it was great and then I missed it and then I realised how much stuff I get done when I don’t waste my time online and thought it was a blessing and then we got connected again last night and I am excited to do a bit of blog-catching-up and not so excited to pay some bills!

(that was a really long sentence, huh?)

So, the move went amazingly well. We had some wonderful helpers and have settled into our new home. The kids LOVE LOVE LOVE it. I asked Oscar if he liked this house or our old one better and he said this one because it is more fun to play with Lilsy here 🙂 The space is much better, it isn’t a great deal bigger, but much better design. The deck is AWESOME! Still to finish the seats and screens (hopefully in the next couple of weeks) but the floor is done and is already proving to be a brilliant place for the small-frys to run and ride and sit and swim. And I can see them from the loungeroom, kitchen, dining room AND studio.

The front door is still my favourite. The scarlet turned out a lot more pink than red but I’m happy with it. Jaron would have preferred more red, but perhaps that’s because he is a boy?!

And I am SO glad that we were bold and daring and followed through with the green internal wall because it is smashingly bright and wonderful.

So while all is fine and dandy with the house we have had a run of bad luck since moving in – hopefully not bad karma in the house? 🙁 One car has needed a new gearbox and the other had a huge rock thrown through the back windscreen, also smashing the glove box inside which has left us with no cars at all for the last 2 weeks. Our computer got a CD stuck in it and we need to replace the whole disc drive. My washing machine wouldn’t hook up and I had to get the repair man in to fix it. Jaron built a letterbox and the next day someone knocked a hole through it.

I keep telling myself to breathe and not think about the bad too much. When something good and exciting happens in our lives we are always greeted with a wave of not-so-good stuff (perhaps to keep us humble?) but we always get through it. Life goes on, the bills will get paid eventually and at the end of the day I’ve got a scarlet door (and that’s all that really matters, right?!)

(oh, and there are no indoor shots of the house yet because it is seriously MESSY! I finally met my deadline for the “big project” this morning {HORRAY} and have been spending all day and all night until 1:20am for the last week sewing, typing and ironing out the kinks. I am exhausted but so excited to have it behind me and get my life back again!)

February 25, 2010

Home & Family

.Our NZ holiday – PART 5.

One thing we really fell in love with in New Zealand was Auckland city – it is just beautiful! We spent a few days walking the streets and lapping up the peaceful atmosphere. It felt so calm and serene and situated right on the beautiful ocean.. We had a quiet New Years Eve at home, but as midnight neared we decided to drive into the city and watch the fireworks with hundreds of others. Unfortunately it was a really misty, overcast night and the fireworks were hardly visible, but it was still lots of fun!

From the beach near Grandie and Nana’s house we could see a big island in the ocean so decided to head out on a ferry one day and hike it! The island is called Rangitoto Island and was formed by a series of volcanic eruptions. The hike was just what we needed after slackening off from our usual exercise routines! The kids did pretty well (actually, Lil was piggy-backed most of the way!) and the pram only made it half-way up and Grandie stayed with sleeping Tommy while we made it to the peak.

Another one of the “must do” things from Jaron’s childhood was a trip to Parakai Springs. This place was awesome! The day was yucky and raining, but the pools were so warm that it didn’t matter. And the waterslides were soooo much fun – even Oscar and Lil became waterslide experts and loved every minute…except when it was time to go home – going home is never fun for poor little Lilsy!

On another rainy day (yep, there were HEAPS!) we drove into the city and spent a few hours at the Auckland Museum. So beautifully set out and in a gorgeous grand old building on the hill. Lots of interactive things for the kids to do and we got to learn lots about Maori culture and especially loved reading and looking at things from world wars.

Our very favourite place to visit in New Zealand had to be Rotorua. Rotorua is known for it’s geothermal activity and has lots of natural hot springs and mud pools around. Because of all of the sulphur emissions, the city stank like rotten eggs. We soon got used to it, but Oscar and Lil were gagging for the first half hour!!

We all loved spending the day at The Skyline Luge – riding on the gondolas and racing our luges around the tracks. Oscar managed to drive a luge buggy all by himself and loved every minute! Poor Lil had to drive with me and I couldn’t go fast enough to satisfy her inner thrill-seeker!

But our VERY favourite part of our whole trip to Rotorua was visiting the Polynesian Spa. I so wish we had something like this where we live, I’d definitley be getting a yearly pass! We treated ourselves and went into the most luxurious spas they had on offer, there were four big thermal rock pools ranging from 36-42 degrees. We had the most amazing time and stayed for over 5 hours, lounging around in the hot water in the rain!

And that, my friends, wraps up my very brief summary of our trip to New Zealand! For the last two days of our holiday, Jaron and I spent a night in the Penthouse suite of a hotel in Auckland to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. It was such a treat and was the perfect way to end our holiday! On the way home from NZ we stopped into Melbourne for a few days for a very special wedding…more on that in the next post!

February 4, 2012

Home & Family

.Our NZ holiday – PART 4.

Lots of time on our holiday was spent at the beach. My in-laws live about a 30 second walk to the beach so we often took the kids down there for a run around and play. Jaron and Lil swam, but it was a bit too chilly for the boys and I!

Although we live right by the beach at home, it was different being able to totally relax and not worry about jobs and things to be done at home.

The beach is my favourite place for taking photos…

February 3, 2012

Home & Family

.Our NZ holiday – PART 3.

The next week of our holiday was spent travelling around and visiting relatives – many of whom the kids and I had never met and Jaron hadn’t seen for 15+ years!

First stop was Hamilton, where we stayed in the old Church College dorms (where my mother-in-law went to school when she was a teenager!) – was lots of fun to relive her memories and tour around the now closed down school. We even had a swim in the old pool – felt like we were living in an old 1960’s movie!

Church College is situated right next door to the Hamilton, New Zealand temple. Such a lovely temple – and lots of special memories held there as the place that my parents and grandparents and many aunties and uncles traveled to to be married.

Hamilton is also home to Jaron’s grandmother, whom Lil had an absolute fascination with and wouldn’t leave her side. Great-Grandma isn’t in the best of health as she suffers from dementia so it was sad to see her and not have her remember as much as she would have liked to. She still kept us in stitches though, with her blunt comments and witty humour! We were also lucky to meet up with Aunties, Uncles and cousins in Hamilton (and naughty me didn’t take many photos!)

In the evening we visited the temple again – this time to see the beautiful temple lights. We were totally enthralled!

Our next stop was New Plymouth, the old family stomping grounds. Here we visited with Great Uncle Harvey and Great Aunty Jill and enjoyed torrential rain for the two days we were there!

We also spent some time with Jaron’s grandfather and Uncle Grant and Aunty Leigh at their home.

On our way home, we stopped into the cemetery and visited graves of Grandad Dorman and other family members no longer with us.

On the way home from our roadtrip we had to stop at the famous Pokeno for an ice cream. This place has been around forever, the town has pretty much nothing in it except for a petrol station and two famous ice cream shops! Jaron had been dreaming talking about our visit way before our holiday and planned to get the biggest ice cream he could there – 12 scoops later…here he is! It was disgusting! But a total bargain – 12 scoops for $12!!!

February 3, 2012

Home & Family

.Our NZ holiday – PART 1.

I’m mustering up the courage to attempt blogging about our trip to New Zealand. It’s taken forever to sort through thousands of photos and create some sort of order! There’s just too much to write about for one post, so I’ll break it up a bit to give us all a breather!!!

We were blessed with 4 weeks of utter blissful, relaxing and fun-filled days. Now that we are home, we are all pining to go back. It’s always nice to be back amongst your own things, but we could easily have stayed for another couple of weeks! The best part – Jaron and I had a bedroom downstairs away from the main living areas of the house and the kids were upstairs with my in-laws and sister-in-law…most mornings we would roll out of bed after 9am to find the kids fed, dressed, beds made and happily playing and we didn’t even have to do a thing 🙂 Simple things like that make for a perfect holiday for parents, right?!

So, the holiday started with leaving sunny, blue skies in Tasmania.

The kids were sooooo excited to get going and were amazing little travellers. There was a lot of waiting at the airport in Melbourne and then a 4 hour flight to NZ, but they did a great job and were still chirpy when we arrived at midnight!! We flew a combination of Jetstar and Air New Zealand and if we did it again, would definitley fly Air New Zealand (or Qantas) for the longer flights. We arrived to rain, rain and more rain – in fact, it rained pretty much our whole trip! But that didn’t stop us from having lots of fun!!

There was no messing around when we first arrived, the next day we headed out to our very first Polkadots concert! These guys are great – if you haven’t heard of them, I guess they could be likened to a Kiwi version of The Wiggles.

Our little sister, Ashleigh is a Polkadots girl – she is a pro dancer and started out back-up dancing for the Polkadots and now is there fill-in when one of the main girls have babies or other business to take care of. Three cool things about the Polkadots… 1. They are all young Mums so know exactly what kids want, 2. Their messages are all about keeping healthy, and 3. They are all members of our Church and have great values, in fact, you can watch a cool video about pink Polkadot Dionne here.

We were especially lucky that Aunty Ash is filling in for one of the Polkadots at the moment and could see her in full action – she was great and the kids are massive fans now!

We managed to squeeze in our traditional Christmas family activity, making gingerbread houses from biscuits – but this time we mixed it up a bit with lots of NZ-style biscuits and lollies…yum! Jaron was taken back to his childhood indulging on Griffins biscuits galore!

Jaron’s parents live about a 10 minute drive from the city centre of Auckland, so this was the view from the highway each day – the city is sooo beautiful.

We did LOTS of driving on this trip – we tried to do an activity every day and also took a few overnight trips to other parts of the country. Of course, lots of driving means lots of taking photos of ourselves in the car 😉

One of our first day trips was to Kelly Tarltons Antarctic Encounter. This place was pretty cool – like an aquarium with focus on the antarctic. There were the most adorable penguins there and even a really fun ride that we took through their enclosure. Lots of interactive things for the kids to do and it was really well set out.

We took the ferry into the city this day and had a wander along the waterfront later on. Soooo beautiful. Auckland is such a clean and quiet city. Quiet enough for Tommy to have a nap during our walk…

And continue napping while we feasted upon some of the most delicious gelato I have ever tried – yum!

There were certain things that we had to do while away, things that Jaron loved doing as a kid growing up in NZ – and one of them was to go to Rainbow’s End…this theme park has been around since 1982 and parts of it had real “vintage” character! The kids could go on most rides – some of them seriously didn’t feel safe but we took them anyway! All three of our kids have really weak stomachs and were pale-faced and crying after the first ride. We had to continually bribe them with fairy floss and extra turns on the more tame rides to make sure they got the complete Rainbow’s End experience!! There was a cute kiddies ride section that they were happy to go back to again and again…

This ride was my favourite by far – I pulled out the “Nan scream” and had to apologise to the man sitting next to me for the saliva I felt dribbling across my cheek…hmmm – maybe that is why he is leaning so far away from me!!

Right, that’s all for tonight! I’ll be back soon with PART 2 of our trip (promise this won’t go on forever…the quantity of photos we took decreased as the trip went on!)
xxx

January 20, 2012

Make It Perfect, Poppy Tunic

.A Poppy Parade – Day 2.

Day two of the Poppy Tunic parade is one that I made for my other sister, Carli. I wanted to show you the tunic with a cardigan (because I am cardi-obsessed) + boots. Cute, huh?

We used a different denim for this one – once again from Kelani Fabric, but a little more light-weight that yesterdays. And darker blue. I love denim. It is such a versatile medium – coordinates with any other fabric and gives a lovely base for the tunic.

I don’t think I mentioned yesterday that I’ve added 3″ in length to these tunics aswell, so bear that in mind if you are looking at these as a guide for the finished tunic length. The pattern cover is the true length of the pattern. Adding length is super easy though, I kept the width of the original hem the same, dropped it down 3″ and then drew a new line from the underarm point to the edge of the hem line. (That way you don’t have to change the length you cut your contrasting strip and the tunic doesn’t get too much of a triangular shape to it.)

SUPPLIES:
Make It Perfect, Poppy Tunic pattern
Texan Light Weight Denim
Sarah Watts, Feather N Stitch, Nest in Red

May 1, 2012

Quilt

.Lap Quilt – take 2.

Another Nani Iro double gauze lap quilt because we love the other one so much.

As is the usual story, I bought the fabrics (from Kelani) and they sat in the cupboard for many months until we had a cold and dreary Saturday which made me switch into “get ready for Winter snuggle mode.”

A highly recommended, quick and easy weekend project (and you can use any fabric, but double gauze is extra luxurious).

SUPPLIES:
Nani IRO double gauze, Colourful Pocho, Multi on Seeded Natural
Nani IRO double gauze, Fuwari, Pink on Cream

April 4, 2012

Make It Perfect

.Sweet Dreams take 2.

I promise this isn’t turning into a pyjama blog…but it is such satisfying sewing for me at the moment. Quick to cut and sew and cosy to wear on a cold evening 🙂

I knew I wanted to use these Heather Bailey prints for the Sweet Dreams cover but didn’t know if I wanted to use the blue or pink version. The only way to find out was to make them both! I do love these blue ones but thought the pink shabby-chic look suited what I was looking for in the cover better.

I have also made Sweet Dreams PJs in some gorgeous flannel prints but haven’t taken any photos to share yet – will do it soon though because I think you will love them.

If you are looking for some extra Sweet Dreams inspiration, check out my tester’s blogs:
Karen
Rachel
Yvonne

Thanks girls – you definitely make my life easier 🙂

July 1, 2010

Make It Perfect

.2 weeks tomorrow…and counting.

Today consisted of floor washing and scrubbing with a scourer. Then, half an hour later, Oscar was busting to go to the loo and left it too late and weed all over the toilet floor. So I had to wash it again.
Lil cried non-stop from 4pm-6pm. I was really losing it with her. Then I realised that all she had eaten since breakfast was a mandarin, 2 rice cakes, a few crackers and my left-over apple core. I forgot to feed her. She ate all of her dinner.
I was absolutely exhausted all afternoon. I didn’t want to get off the couch but I had to because there were dirty nappies to be changed, drink bottles of water tipped onto the tiles to make rivers (which ended up being deadly slip-hazards for Lil) to be soaked up, arguments to be sorted, washing to be folded, and dinner to be prepared (admittedly, dinner turned out to be baked bean and cheese toasted sandwiches).
I feel like a heffalump, I’m sick of all of my clothes, I cut my head out of all of these photos because I don’t like my puffy face.

Sorry if you came for an uplifting read…I’m keeping it real today.

(And now, hopefully, after having a good whinge I will stop feeling sorry for myself and tomorrow will be a better day.)

May 19, 2009

Make It Perfect

Look-Alike-Meter 2

September 21, 2007

Fab Frocks, Other

.Saffron’s Wombat Wonderland.

We all love Saffron Craig, right? She is a fab fabric designer, I’ve been a fan of her stuff for a long time. Even before we became buddies in real life. She pretty much rocks at everything she does.

I was honoured to be asked to take part in her Wombat Wonderland blog tour. Have you seen her new Wombat Wonderland range? I was smitten from the first time she showed it to me…the colours are just lovely – soft and pretty and a beautiful representation of the Australian wombat. I love Saffron’s talent in taking Australian flora and fauna and creating fabric that is modern and contemporary. Prints suited for both children and adults, perfect for sewing clothing, making homewares and bags.

Wombat Wonderland is printed on 100% organic cotton (something I think we’ll see a lot more from Saffron) and has the most luxurious, sateen-y feel. Kind of reminds me of a heavier version of cotton voile. The soft drape makes it ideal for sewing clothing, just what I like!

Saffron sent me a selection of her new fabrics to have a play with. First up, I made a beanbag pod for the kids. Super easy – two 1m diameter circles sewed together!

Cute, huh? I think it will eventually live in the rumpus (when we get around to cleaning it up!) and can imagine the kids playing with their toys on it.

For now, they’ve been enjoying lounging around on it (she comes home filthy from school…)

And it’s been keeping Tommy nice and cosy as he recovers from a bout of tonsillitis this week.

I also sewed Lil a new Summer dress (one day soon it will be warm enough to wear it with short sleeves under!) I used my Fab Frocks pattern and added a contrast strip to the bottom of the dress because she wanted it to be a “down” (long) one! At this rate, it will fit her for the next 3 years!!

Thanks Saffron for sharing your gorgeous fabric with me. It was a dream to sew with!

Make sure you check out Wombat Wonderland in Saffron’s online store.

And to follow the rest of the Wombat Wonderland blog tour, take a look at the schedule here.

September 6, 2012

Indie Sewing Patterns, Other

.Maai Design – See You At Six Blog Tour.

Hello, hello! The poor old blog has been totally neglected of late…I’m back to make a change to that today and have some beautiful fabric to share with you!

Today I am participating in the Maai Design “See You At Six” Blog Tour. A couple of months ago I received an email from Maaike (owner of Maai Design) letting me know about an amazing new European fabric that she would be adding to the store soon. Now, to be honest, I’m a sucker for pretty much any European fabric! It always promises top quality and unique prints but up until now I have only really sewn with European knits. I didn’t hesitate in joining in the blog tour fun because I knew the fabric would be awesome AND I loved the new range by See You At Six. Maai Designs stocks 12 gorgeous prints in this unique 100% cotton viscose/rayon fabric – the best part is that they are all suited to sewing garments for the GROWN UPS! I do get sucked in by cutesy prints, my fabric stash is full of them and I need to start shopping more for fabric that I will wear myself. The entire See You At Six range fits this brief perfectly.

On receiving the fabric, I was 100% impressed with the quality. It has the most incredible drape and is super soft to feel with a nice, tight weave, producing a fabric that is perfect for sewing tops, skirts and dresses for women (and kids…but I personally want to keep this one all to myself!) I did pre-wash and tumble dry my fabric as instructed on the website to account for the small shrinkage factor. I’m not great at pre-washing woven fabrics, but am always happy when I do it and then dry in the dryer because I know the finished garment can be thrown into the dryer without having to worry about shrinkage in the future.

For the blog tour I choose to make myself a couple of tops using the Drops in Black & White and Flowers Blue fabrics. I love how each of these prints are busy enough to keep them interesting but subtle enough to wear without feeling like you are drawing too much attention to yourself (did I just totally contradict myself there, or what?!) I thought that I would take the opportunity to sew something different for myself and had a flick through my not-yet-used pattern stash. After a bit of thought I decided to use the Grainline Scout Tee as my base pattern. This pattern has been around forever but it wasn’t until just recently that I decided I liked it…and now that I have made a couple I have decided that I love it!! It is a super speedy sew AND is really easy and flattering to wear.

I made the black tee first, sewing a size 6 and using the pattern without any modifications. Completely happy with the results, but then I remembered seeing a few peplum variations of the tee around and knew that the See You At Six fabric with amazing drape would work perfectly in a peplum so decided to give a peplum-hack a go. I didn’t think too much about it, just cut the main body of the tee shorter then cut a big strip of fabric for the ruffle about 1.5 times longer than the bottom hem of the shirt. I did have a little play around getting the fit right – I think I ended up grading in the side seams of the tee and ruffle because it was just a bit too wide and frumpy with all of that extra width at the bottom but other than that it was really easy. I wasn’t sure I loved the look on me to start with – I’m about 2 years late to the peplum party, this being the first I have ever made (or owned!) and my husband did ask what the heck was going on with that little skirt at the bottom of my top, haha! But after wearing it a couple of times, I am sold. And when I wore it to school last week (I’m primary school teaching now) I was complimented by a large number of skirt-loving girls, so it is a winner in the eyes of the little ones!

If you love sewing for yourself, or want to start but don’t know what to use – then I recommend this gorgeous fabric. And to make your purchase a little easier, MaaiDesign is offering you a 10% discount on the See You At Six collection until the 30th September 2016! Simply use the code: seeyouatsix

12th of September: Shelley from Bartacks and Singletrack

13th of September: Kate from Sewing With Kate

14th of September: Nicola from Create.nic

15th of September: Anna from Blogless Anna

16th of September: Caroline from Usefulbox

17th of September: Suz from Sewpony

18th of September: Allison from The Tall Mama

19th of September: Toni from Make It Perfect

20th of September: Suzanne from Dressed in Pretty Little Things

21st of September: Natalie from Sew Outnumbered

22nd of September: Jenya from While She Was Sleeping

23rd of September: Maaike from MaaiDesign

September 19, 2016

Home & Family

.Emerging…

Hello blog! I’m not sure that I remember how to do this, it has been so long!!! The last two months have been a whirlwind. We said goodbye to our fun home of 4 1/2 years at number 19…

…and hello to our new place which we finally finished building! This is our backyard – well, technically speaking these are the vacant blocks in our new subdivision that we are hoping don’t sell for a long time because the kids think it is all theirs and run wild through all of that grass! We have gigantic (kind of scary) hares bouncing around all day and night – there are no bunnies here, just thumping huge hares! And so many birds…much to Harvey’s delight. He is bird crazy and chases them when ever he gets the chance.

On our first night sleeping in the new house, this was the beginning of a glorious sunset – I think it was welcoming us to the neighbourhood. The sunsets here are amazing. I don’t think they are different to the ones we had in town but the unobstructed horizon and clear views magnify the beauty of the sky. Sometimes at dusk, I like to go outside and watch the sun go down. With nothing but the chirping birds surrounding me, it is so peaceful. (Until one of those scary, big hares bounds by…)

The day before we moved, this was pretty much all that was left in any cupboard in the house. When Lil woke up in the morning, she went to the pantry to find something to eat and yells out, “Mum!!! Are we poor?!”
A few days after we moved, Grandie and Nana visited us from New Zealand. They were so helpful getting the old house all cleaned out and fixing things up ready for the tenants to move in. Such a relief not having to do it all on my own. Not only did they work like troopers, but they also spoiled us with babysitting, gifts and taking us out for lots of yummy lunches.

Oh, and they also brought along the biggest bag of giant marshmallows one has ever seen so we did what all newly semi-rural folk do to christen their property and had a backyard-campfire-s’mores-making session.

Upon moving into the new house, Harvey decided that he wanted to feed himself all the time. Not my favourite baby phase to get into. Especially in a brand new house with sparkling clean floors. So I pulled out the first quilt I ever made and now it is used for Harvey spill protection! He likes to tip his whole bowl of food onto the tray of the highchair and smoosh it around with his hands at every meal. And then he wears the bowl on his head like a hat. And usually walks around with crusty bits of weetbix in his hair all day long.

So, we are in the new house. There was no internet connection for 4 weeks which was actually kind of nice for a little while. We are mostly unpacked, it feels like home, and we have about 20 years of landscaping ahead of us! One day we will get around to taking “nice” shots of the house to do a little tour for the blog. It was exhausting though, children would often fall asleep in strange and uncomfortable-looking positions!

And just in case you’re wondering…the pantry is full now, but we spent all the money on food so now we are too poor to dress the baby!

December 22, 2014

Free Pattern, Make It Perfect

.A FREE PATTERN:: 2-in-1 Shorts.

I’ve got a free download pattern to share with you today! This one is a favourite pattern from my book, 2-IN-1 SHORTS.

I’m the queen of “to-do” lists…in fact, I’ve got lists for all of the different areas of my life and my Make It Perfect to-do list is very long and full of great ideas that I will hopefully get to one of these days! Releasing this pattern for my 2-in-1 Shorts has been on the to-do list for a long time. It’s such a basic, beginner-friendly and achievable sew that I wanted to make it available for everyone to use.

We are in the middle of Winter, and it has recently started snowing on the mountains, so it does seem a very inappropriate time to release a shorts pattern (let alone send the kids outside in shorts and a tshirt to take photos!) so let me explain…if you haven’t already heard, the Shorts on the Line sewalong is in full swing at the moment and I was happy to be invited to participate as a guest blogger, it only seemed fitting for me to tick this project off my to-do list and release the pattern now! So, all you peeps in the Northern Hemisphere can enjoy some shorts wearing now, while we wait another couple of months for the weather to turn!

So, about the pattern…2-in-1 Shorts is a really basic shorts pattern with an easy to sew elastic waistband. The shorts are completely reversible, I’ve got to admit I’m a lover of reversible clothes for kids for a couple of reasons. Firstly, reversible means two layers of fabric which means double the strength!! My kids have worn holes through so many pairs of their single layer shorts (and not in the seams, but actually ripped the fabric!) but their reversible shorts don’t seem to wear out as quickly because they are extra sturdy. Secondly, you don’t have to worry about finishing any raw edges as they are all enclosed within the two layers of fabric, making the project so much faster to sew. And thirdly, you can mix and match two different fabrics to your hearts content! And they don’t actually have to match either, if you don’t roll up the hem of the shorts then you can’t see the opposite fabric anyway! Win!!

These shorts are all about comfort and practicality, but a great blank canvas for you to customise to your heart’s content…add extra pockets, some applique, colour blocking, fancy trims, what ever tickles your fancy!

The pattern includes instructions for back pockets, which look really cute, but they are optional.

The free download 2-in-1 Shorts pattern is avaliable here in sizes 0-5. Sewing shorts for kids is such a great stash-buster project, so go dig in the fabric stash, find some fabric you want to use up and get sewing! You’ll have these finished in less than an hour!

SUPPLIES:
Make It Perfect, 2-in-1 Shorts free pattern
Andover chambray in denim blue
Monaluna, Happy Summer for Birch Organics
Lightweight star denim from Spotlight
Kaffe Fassett shot cotton

This post is part of the Shorts on the Line sewalong. Shorts on the Line 2014 is sponsored by: Britex Fabrics, Hawthorne Threads, miss matatabi, and Soak Wash. Hosted by imagine gnats, small + friendly, and Kollabora.

August 4, 2014

Make It Perfect, Ottobre

.KCWC – Day 2 & 3 achievements.

Day Two of Kids Clothing Week Challenge. Super simple, quick and easy – two pairs of leggings for Lil!

These were fun to make and have been on my “to sew” list for a long time. I can’t believe how easy and quick they were – like 15 minutes from cutting to finish! I’m never buying leggings again!

The pattern I used was based on “Cinnamon Leggings” in the Spring 1/2011 edition of Ottobre magazine. These leggings were a bit short though so I also used a pair of store-bought leggings that we like and lengthened them and made a nice, narrow hem at the bottom.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned on my blog before how I like to finish the hems or do any exterior stitching on my knit fabric sewing. I did use a twin needle for awhile, which was great. But it was fussy too – always having to switch the needle around and making sure that I had two spools of thread plus a bobbin to use each time. Plus I would break the needles ALL the time and they aren’t that cheap to buy! I was looking through the stitches on my sewing machine and discovered a “triple straight stitch” – it is awesome. Basically it sews forwards, backwards and then forwards again over every single stitch and while doing so, it creates a stitch that looks like a thick regular stitch but has a good amount of stretch to it too! I use it all the time now and love it. Looks much nicer than the other option of zig-zag.

Day Three of KCWC was a fizzler. But I got to do something waaay cooler…I got to be with Ty and Sam while they had their first baby – Nancy Mae. She is the most adorable thing EVER (seriously, she is one of “those” perfect looking babies) and the whole experience was absolutely amazing. Sam was an super star trooper through her 30-hour long marathon labour and I feel so blessed to have been there. I’ll share photos of little Nancy later on, once her Mum and Dad have had a chance to share them first but for now, here’s a pic of my brother just a few minutes after Nancy was born – true elation and pride!!!

SUPPLIES:
Stella knit in hot pink
Blue/white knit from Spotlight

April 26, 2012

Make It Perfect

.The Best Me Challenge – week 2.

The challenge for this week was to think of something that has been on your mind a lot lately that you really want to do, but never get around to. Then to actually do it so that you can free your mind and have one less thing bugging you!

Something I have been meaning to do for AGES, is to get into regular exercise again. Nothing flash…just a simple walk or a bit of resistance training at home. Just because it makes me feel good and helps me have a better outlook on life.

January 13, 2008

Make It Perfect

Oops!

Have been too busy touring around Tassie with family to do a Recipe Monday post this week…stay tuned for lots more photos and stories from our adventures though!

July 10, 2007

Home & Family

.On easter Saturday.

The big kids had a sleepover at Grandma and Poppy’s last night – their first one all on their own. They did great, and of course, had a wonderful time! We slept in until 9:45am!! Can you believe it? That hasn’t happened since at least 5 1/2 years ago. I was sure I was holding my phone upside down and it had to be 6:45am when I looked at it…and then Tommy didn’t wake up until 10:30am! He has always been a good sleeper, but not that good. Such a lovely way to start our Easter Saturday.

After picking the children up, we took them on a mystery tour (a fun family tradition that started when I was a child) and planned to visit Mural Fest in Sheffield, only to get there and realise that it doesn’t start until tomorrow, with next Saturday being the big ending! We still enjoyed a play at the park and had lunch in a cafe on the way home.

This week has been full of easter crafts and stories. This book has provided loads of entertainment. Here are Oscar’s super cute egg animals…

And inspired by this craft, we made some easter egg collages too…

As usual, Easter Bunny visited our house this afternoon. We could hear that he was coming, so quickly went and hid in Tommy’s bedroom. Dad said that he almost caught him, but Easter Bunny was running way too fast! I still think that our Easter Bunny is the best ever – coming on Saturday rather than Sunday morning. Makes getting ready for church much easier!

We made some hot cross buns – this time using the recipe from the Thermomix cookbook. They were delicious and we had them for dinner 😉

And I’m a bit late on the traditional easter PJs this year. Luckily they come from me and not the bunny! They are all cut out and ready to sew, so hopefully I’ll be sharing them next week!

What ever you are doing this Easter, hope you are having a lovely time spending it with people that you love and that you take a little moment of time to remember the sacrifice that our Savior made for us.

April 23, 2011

Make It Perfect

Chocoholic…

Not me…I’m not a chocoholic…really…but when I go to the best Cadbury outlet store ever in Melbourne I just can’t help myself! This place kicks the Hobart Cadbury factory – you can’t do tours and not just anyone can go into the shop, you have a have a special pass. The only people who can get passes are people that work there or people who are part of a non-profit organisation…so my Mother in Law has a pass for the Melbourne Mission! She is allowed to take one friend every time she goes. We stocked up on lots of yummy easter eggs and scorched almonds and the favourite Summer Roll bar – a 5kg box, unwrapped, but otherwise fine, for $8!!! There are 250 bars there – what we are going to do with them all, I don’t know…I just hope they last for awhile!!!

We said our goodbyes to Nana and Grandie yesterday . This was going to be our last trip to Mebourne before the end of the mission, but while we were over there we planned another one for the end of April when Jaron’s parents have to go to Sydney for a week fo a Mission Presidents Seminar. So we are going to go and care for the kids. Not that they need much caring for, but any excuse for another holiday! This will mean we have been to Melbourne each month since December!!

TY HAS ARRIVED!!! We received an email from Elder Triffitt yesterday saying:
“Hello. I’m at the mission home signing my life away. About to have interview with presdient. We have our orientation tomorrow and find out where I go then. Pday is Monday so thats when I’ll check email next.
Love you Elder Triffitt
Still raining but warm”
So hopefully we will find out where his first area is and what he thinks of Fiji in the next week or so. He was so excited to finally leave the MTC and get into the mission field, I can’t wait to hear mission stories from him now. If you want to write to him, his email address is: ilovemymum11@myldsmail.net or the mission address is: Fiji Suva Mission, GPO 215, Suva Fiji.
A few photos I meant to post a while ago of him in Provo at the MTC.

Playing in the snow….the last chance he will have to feel cold for the next 2 years!

With his companions Elder Tira and Elder Soon at the Visitors Centre at the SL Temple. (They were the only 3 going to Fiji in the MTC and so were in a 3-way companionship). I’m sure they will really miss each other in Fiji when they have to part.

With his companion, Elder Tira outside the Salt Lake Temple.

March 14, 2007

Make It Perfect

SLACK

Yep…thats me! I have been so slack with everything lately – taking photos, updating my blog, reading my scriptures, cleaning the house…its time to get back on top of things! I had a nice productive day today though, did LOTS of sewing (which made me feel happy). Oscar had 2 2 hour naps (which made me feel VERY happy). And then tonight I have been cleaning like mad, vacuuming, washing floors, baking cookies. I will sleep well tonight!

I have put an end to my Tupperware career. It was actually very rewarding and prosperous while it lasted, but I have done my dash. Almost a whole year of selling it and my cupboards are overflowing! I will miss the extra money to use on my hobbies, and treating ourselves to going our to lunch and the movies, but I’m ready to have a rest before baby number 2. I just want to spend the next few months organising the house and doing all of those little things that I know I won’t have the time or energy to do for 6 months after the baby is born! Have an appointment booked for 2nd March for a scan.

I got a new calling at church. After 4 years of loving serving in primary, I am now a counsellor int Young Womens. I am so excited and can’t wait to hang out with the girls and relive my days in Young Womens…my only problem will be trying to remember that I am a leader not one of the girls!

Oscar is learning how to throw little tantrums – they are quite cute at the moment. He is saying heaps of new words. Said “shoes” today, he copies everything we do and loves to be outside.

We have had an email and a letter from Ty. He is doing well. Finding a few things difficult to adjust to in his new mission life, but he seems happy. Hates the American food in the MTC. The only thing he said that he likes are the bananas and the cookies!

Alright, think I have to go and deal with a stinky nappy and then make some icing to put in the middle of my cookies and try and get Oscar to bed. Jaron is out at meetings tonight. Hopefully he will be home soon and he can do the bed part!

January 23, 2007

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