Beatrice Bunny Pattern

The pattern for Beatrice Bunny pattern and her friends is finished and available at my pattern shop, on Etsy and at Craftsy.



Hot Cross Bun Bread

The River Cottage Soda Bread has become a bit of a favorite around here. It is so quick to make, no kneading and you have bread in an hour. I thought I might adapt it to make hot cross bun bread. Chocolate hot cross bun bread actually. Sultana free. I've never understood the love of sultanas. They seem to ruin the best dessert and most breakfast cereals. My kids won't eat them either, which is actually kind of annoying. I think it would make school lunches a lot easier if they did eat them, but I won't start on how frustrating and annoying I find it to make school lunches that they will eat.
Back to Hot Cross Buns. I don't understand the outrage over Hot Cross Buns appearing in the shops after Christmas. I think you should be able to buy the chocolate ones all year round. I've been know to fill the freezer the week before Easter.
So this is what I made today and it was a big hit when the girls got home from school.

Chocolate Hot Cross Bun Soda Bread (based on the River Cottage Soda Bread)
500g flour
2tsp bicarb soda
200ml buttermilk
200ml natural yogurt (I ran out of buttermilk)
1tsp allspice
1/2tsp cinnamon
125g dark chocolate chips.

Mix all the ingredients together until it all comes together. Form into a ball and place on a pizza stone or baking tray (that has been sprinkled with flour). Sprinkle the top with flour and cut a cross into it. Bake at about 200 degrees C for about 45 minutes.

Good Etsy Finds

Etsy, like ravelry, is one of those sites where you go looking for something and emerge hours later having completely forgotten what you  were looking for in the first place.

I found this vintage ribbon on a recent search and knew it would be perfect for this dress from a Japanese sewing book (ISBN 978-4-579-11289-0).

My closest Spotlight and Textile Traders are 100km away and you are never sure of the buttons they will have in stock (though the buttons in Textile Traders were great on my last visit and cheap!). So it is much easier to search Etsy and saves me a drive to Bunbury. I got these ones from here.

 I am hoping some of them will be perfect for this vest which is currently blocking on the verandah.
 I am a little bit in love with the picot edging. I must knit more picot edges I think.

Rabbits

 I think I promised to write my rabbit pattern up for Easter. Two years ago. So I'm not making any promises this year, but there has been lots of rabbit sewing and pattern writing this week.

 

 There's also been much yelling and squealing from Olive. Crossing fingers she has a few naps this week and maybe there will be a rabbit pattern soon.

Gem Dress



I knew Milly would love the Gem dress when I saw it and I was right! She chose some voile we found in the huge clean out last week. I think I bought it at Spotlight a few years ago. I made a size 8 so it will fit next summer as well.

The only problem I had with the dress was the printing out of the pages and I am still not sure I have done it right. I think the problem is the difference between paper sizes between the US and here. A4 is slightly narrower and I think the pattern went to the end of the paper so some of it didn't print and there was a bit of guess work involved.

Lucky there is a lot of elastic in this pattern so if I made the pieces too big then I pulled them in to fit. The only thing that needed altering was the shoulder strap. I did make it a lot shorter, but as you can see it is falling off her shoulder and will need shortening again.

Milly loves it and the other two have requested one for next summer.

 

Bracelets

The girls spent hours over the weekend making bracelets, luckily the bush out the front that needs pruning was the perfect material for them.

Little Purses



There has been lots of cleaning and sorting in the craft room this week. Bags of stuff that was never going to be used has gone out and things have been rearranged so I can find what I am looking for. As I have done this lots of favourite pieces of fabric have been rediscovered and I have remembered what I was going to do with it. I found some of the fabric left over from these cushions and they were perfect for little purses.

I used a Nicole Mallalieu Kit for the first one, but used a sew in frame I found on Etsy instead. I thought a sew in frame looked a little bit easier to me than gluing one in. If you search for sew in frames on Etsy you can find them in every size and lots of colours. I really like these ones with the coloured balls on top. I might have to find some more.

 I used this pattern I found on Craftsy for the second one. This made a smaller pouch with a different shape and therefore needed a much smaller frame. It is another sew in one from Etsy.

The only tricky part of making these is sewing the frame and making cure it is centred - one of these was definitely not! Both patterns are pretty simple to make and result in very useful, cute purses.

Something New

It has been so long since I knit anything. It was time to start something new.



Hats



New hats - same, same...

 ...but different.

Because that is how it is with these two.

Cushion for Eva

I thought I would have a quick play around with making some letters I really thought it would need a lot of practice to get right. These are the first two letters I made and while they aren't perfect I am pretty happy with them.

 In no time I had 'Eva' finished. Word Play Quilts by Tonya Ricucci is a great book. Excellent directions, very easy to follow. The only think I had to think about was making a non-American small a, and that was easy to do, I just made a square.

 Eva has been sleeping with it since I made it, I'm not sure it will make it to school for nap time.

 Finished in my usual way with a hidden zip.

Something New



I really dislike the sorting and labelling of books and pencils at the start of the year, but tell me the pre-primary kid needs a cushion for nap time and I'm right on to it.

And The Winners Are...

Thanks everyone for your comments.
The winner of the ebook is Julie.
The winner of the hard copy is Waverlee.

Sewing for Girls

So  I thought I would do a quick search for a sewing pattern on Etsy and I was sucked into a big black hole. I'm not sure what I was originally looking for, but I found some fantastic patterns I hope to make the girls before the end of summer.

The One Shoulder Ruffled Dress by Brynnberlee Designs.

 The Summer Sailor Shorts by Brownie Goose

 

The Apron Wrap Dress by Aesthetic Nest.

Destash

The sewing room is a little out of control so I am having a little destash in my etsy shop and on ravelry.

Modern Quilts from the Blogging Universe part 2

I have a physical copy of the book to give away as well as the ebook!! Why did I not think of this yesterday - I'm going to blame the craziness of the summer holidays. So if you have already left a message you are able to win the ebook or the physical copy and if not leave a message now!

Modern Quilts from the Blogging Universe



Modern Quilt from the Blogging Universe is available now!

Today you have the chance, well 19 chances actually to win an ebook of it. All you have to do is leave a message here. There is only one rule, leave your email address so I can easily notify the winner. For more chances to win head to the Martingale blog and see all the other contributors - each one has an ebook copy to give away. To be drawn on the 29th January.

Edited to add: I am giving away a physical copy of the book as well! Why did I not think of this yesterday - I'm going to blame the craziness of the summer holidays. So if you have already left a message you are able to win the ebook or the physical copy and if not leave a message now!

 Here is my contribution. Made from a layer cake, some background fabric and a little extra for the border.

Holidays

Summer seems to be flying by. We spent a week in Albany and we didn't do much but swim, laze around, go to the park and eat. There may have been a small amount of shoe shopping. A pretty perfect summer really.

Now we are home with piles of washing to be done, wasp hives that need to be gotten rid of and fruit trees to net.

Thanks to Susie for the tip off about the great bowls and mugs in Woolworths. Love these patterns and colours.

Summer

It is the middle of summer, holiday time and it has been hot. Lots of lying around in the air conditioning, watching dvds, going to swimming lessons, a bit of cooking and a little craft planning.



Shirt and Shorts

I finished these shorts and shirt for Grace before Christmas, but with all the craziness and the heat I didn't get a chance to photograph them.

The top is the short sleeved version of the Simply Sweet Tunic.  I used some seersucker from Spotlight and it is perfect for the warm weather. The shorts pattern is from Blank Slate Patterns.

I used some denim for the shorts without any stretch which I think was a mistake. The shorts are pretty close fitting and I think using some fabric with stretch would suit them better and be a lot more comfortable. I have bought some more denim with stretch and will make another pair.
Clothes sewing time has been hard to find at the moment, there are swimming lessons everyday, deadlines looming and so much ripening in the garden which is inspiring me to cook and of course there is the hanging out with the girls and enjoying the summer.

Homespun

The latest Homespun is out and my quilt is on the cover! I have only had a chance to have a quick glance through it but noticed lots of familiar names have projects in it.

This quilt seems to have been a WIP for a long time. I originally made this pattern in completely different colours and then I wanted to remake it and write the pattern as I went. I chose some Flea Market Fancy - the original fabrics, that is how long ago I planned it. It did sit for quite some time until Catherine from Homespun asked me to write it up and I am so glad I did as it made me finish it and now I think it is one of my favourite quilts. I can't wait to get it back and to have it on the couch.

Butterick 5743

I have a couple more finishes for 2012. I managed to finish these just before we left for Albany for Christmas. The girls had already chosen the pattern and fabric so it wasn't a big surprise (they are getting a little fussy about what they will wear).

They chose Butterick 5743 and both chose some Prints Charming cotton from Spotlight which made really nice dresses. I attempted an invisible zip in both. I think I need to watch a couple of tutorials on youtube, I can't seem to get the bottom of the zip as neat as I'd like.

I made view B  and made a quick muslin of the top. The size 8 was huge on my girls so I took it in to about the equivalent of a 6 with more taken off the back than the front and I left the length of the bodice as an 8. This pattern takes quite a bit of fabric as the skirt is a circle. It falls really nicely and is perfect for spinning.



2013

Happy New Year! Hope 2013 is your best year yet.
My one regret from 2012 - not finding Olive a tiny matching outfit for last nights 80s party.

Nearly Christmas

Just one last present to finish and I will be ready for Christmas.

Enormous Hippos

I received the best email yesterday from Sarah who had used my hippo pattern to make enormous hippos for her son's kindergarten class. They sang "I want a hippopotamus for Christmas" for their holiday assembly and it is now living in their classroom. I love it! I think they are the best hippos I have ever seen. I really want to make an enormous hippo for the girls (ok they might be my excuse, I really want one for myself).

Sarah said she enlarged the pattern 300%. She said the only problem was that she had to tuck the neck a bit to make it fit. I had this problem when I was trying to make one out of  wool or corduroy once. If you find you have this problem at all the best way to fix it is to place the head inside the body and if one is bigger then the other just sew a couple of seams a little bigger and then try it again until they fit perfectly and then sew them together.
Thanks for sharing Sarah!

Christms Sewing

I think I am nearly at the end of the Christmas sewing.

It is the last day of school today and I made a few pouches to go in the teachers' presents.

 A few little hats for little cousins.

I just have to finish dresses for the girls and I think the Christmas presents are all done!