Post Christmas sew up.

I didn't do much in the way of sewing or beading in the run up to Christmas what with moving and everything else going on but on boxing day I pulled out the machine and since then it has had a little use. Finishing up some odd bits, a bit of fixing and some new makes.

This skirt was the last remnant of a top I made dd a long time ago, she must have only just been pulling herself up in those days. She saw this in my fabric box and brought it to me. 'Please Mummy skirt'. How could I refuse such a nice request. Luckily there was just enough left for this pretty little number. She was so excited to watch me sew it. I shall have to let her start pressing the buttons soon. As it's a remnant and the elastic was bought so long ago it was from the euro shop before we moved back I am considering this a free sew. We like free sews. ;)

These trousers are made of a soft fleecy fabric I was gifted earlier this year, I used the Dana Made It kids pants pattern and extended it slightly for her height as she is 2 in a size 4. I added elastic in the cuffs as a jogging bottom feel. The fabric is so soft I want a pair too. I have a bit left and am hoping there is enough for me to make up a pattern for a top to go with them. Ideal for this miserable weather. Another free sew!

Trousers from the Made by Rae new born pattern. These are for my friend whose daughter is due end of Jan. I love this fabric, I bought it a couple of years ago with dd in mind but never came up with a plan. I am glad to use it or it would have been a money sucker. I hope they fit the new arrival.

These are also for my friends baby. A reversible bib and burp cloth. Both from a me made pattern, well the burp cloth was just made up as I went. It has towelling on the back for a bit of resilience to any burp residue that may occur. The fabric was from a bundle I bought a while ago now and have used for a dress for dd and also her dolls cot bumper. I think it stretched to a pen roll too. But this seems to be the last of it. Satisfying when you can use something up completely.

PJ bottoms for me. My first pair for me. Another free make, the fabric was left from the dress hubby made from his challenge in Germany. He bought a lot as he hadn't chosen a pattern when he found the fabric and it became a summer dress so lots for me to play with. The pattern was from Lauren's book but I just made casing for 1" elastic as couldn't be faffed with the adding ties. The elastic is doing me well I bought a huge roll in Germany from ebay and have loads left still. It has more than paid for itself over time. I have yet to wear them but they do fit. I tested before completing.

Trousers. I can't remember the pattern, I cut them in the summer as long shorts for dd but I made them too small and never finished them. Now there is a new baby on the way I finished them off. I know looking at them it's blue and boyish but my dd loved the second pair I made her that fitted. I admit initially I bought it for my son but he grew out of trains too fast unlike his older brother and indeed his sister. Still it came in handy in the end so no loss there.

I made this dress after our trip in the summer for dd. She choose the Minnie fabric in the US and I added the black from left overs in the scrap bag. Buttons were from a card making kit just for show and the pattern is the Good Deed dress. I finally got around to adding the red ribbon to finish it off. Needless to say she was over the moon.

My final make was this skirt. Father Christmas bought some 'Halloween Skellington' hair bands. She has developed a real thing for this film and the squeal when she opened them was incredible. It made Christmas. So when I saw this last remnant in my box, originally for hubby's pj bottoms from our American trip, I knew I had to create something for her. Again a bit of black from the scraps bag and voila her very own 'Nightmare' inspired skirt. I love this and so does hubby and dd.

I also fixed a few odd bits and made plans in my head for other bits but all in all I was happy with my little stash and UFO buster.

In other news hubby has laid the matting for the tiles in the bathroom. We hopefully will have a tiled floor before he goes back to work on Monday. I will show you a picture when it's done.

Merry Christmas

The weather is cold, damp and windy. It rains and rains and rains, though we are lucky and are too far south for the floods that are affecting so many right now.

But we had our first Christmas in our own home with our crazy excited children. Small girl squealed when she found Nightmare Before Christmas hairbands in her stocking and after two presents on my lap suddenly realised there were lots of presents and had to be held back a few times for fear of the tree getting knocked over and her brothers loosing out on gifts.

It was an incredible day. Luckily our huge oven did the perfect job and we managed to all squeeze in around the table despite the lack of a proper kitchen. The food was delicious, the children were happy. What more can we ask for.

I hope you all had a wonderful day too.

A new project

I have been a bit quiet recently as we have a new project on the go. When we bought it you had to go up the grass and under the bush to the door, we have since found the path that was hidden by bushes. Inside needed a lot of work and we are slowly but surely getting there. I have a half cupboard and a broken cupboard in my kitchen but running water and a Rangemaster 110 ceramic hob in cream. I love my oven. I can cook more than one thing at a time and grill too! It's the simple things. The tins are piled up on the floor between the oven and the fridge and I have to empty the cupboard every time I want to cook but we are kitchen shopping in the January sales. The bathroom had to be ripped out and we have had the new suite plumbed in but that is all for now. Again, it's a work in progress!

When we bought the house you couldn't get into the back garden very easily at all. It was completely overgrown, we found a bay tree in a pot that was taller then the house and my sons could open their window and pick blackberries. However we had left it as we had more pressing things to be getting on with, (mould removal, painting and papering, choosing bedroom carpets. . . ), but then next door were having some tree work done so I had a word with their contractors.

And this happened! My garden it turns out is pretty big when you clear out all the brambles and overgrown shrubs! 

SO that's why I haven't been around much but I hope to get back into the swing of things again very soon.