bye bye birdie

Miss 2 (when 18 months old) wearing some bird gear made by Miss 12. She loved to wear the hat and mask everywhere. Then one day, she didn't like it anymore and it was bye bye birdie.

wonky scraps doll quilt

as the title of this post suggests, the 2nd doll quilt which started off really well, has turned 'wonky.' I thought that the small blue floral print had more cotton than polyester. I was wrong. When pressing the seams open, the fabric kind of shrunk a little. Now I have curvy instead of straight edges in some places. I can't be bothered unpicking and replacing the wonky squares. Besides I don't have any other scraps to replace them with. So I'm going to finish the quilt and use it to practice my stippling. I'm sure that Miss 2 will be only too happy to take it off my hands for her dollies.

miss tika at work

Miss 2 has been sick with a really yucky tummy bug for the past 3 days. The combination of poop, vomit and sleep deprivation has me a little loopy. I'm even talking to miss tika (aka wonder pinny). Couldn't resist getting her accessorised and all set to take on the fashion world lol!

pixie beanie for baby

to keep my charity knitting enthusiasm going, I like to have a play around with shapes and colours. Here's my version of a pixie beanie. Miss 12 has nicknamed it the 'wannabe' beanie, which means that she's not sure whether it wants to be a beanie or a tea cosy?

scrap fabric doll quilts

The simple doll quilt that I blogged about last week is finished. It looks really great on the doll bed even though its a little small for this bed. I also made a little pillow to go with the quilt. I found the instructions from this really great
tutorial very useful when doing the binding. I think I did a pretty good job. Even the mitred corners look good. I'll need to practice stippling a lot more before even trying it on a quilt as my earlier attempts were awful.


I've started a second doll quilt with my leftover fabric scraps. This one is more of a challenge as I'm working with a very limited colour palette. Guess that's just what happens when it comes to making something out of scraps. However, I think that I can 'make it work!'

more enid gilchrist books

this morning's post brought a parcel of enid gilchrist books. The sender is a very experienced dressmaker who served her apprenticeship at Ballantynes Department Store in Christchurch. She was working at Ballantynes in 1947 at the time of the fire. The Ballantynes fire is considered to be one of New Zealand's worst fires ever.

She has a complete collection of all of enid's books and these were her extras. Some are missing their covers and have been obviously well used. That doesn't bother me in the slightest. I'm just pleased to boost my little collection. These titles are what I received today:

Boys and Girls 5 - 9 yrs
Boys and Girls 10 - 12 yrs
Pinnies N things
Ten to Teens
9 to 11
Junior Teens
Small women
Girls Gear
Six to Nine yrs,
Boys and Girls 8 - 10 yrs
Maternity Wear
Toddlers wear
Babies wear
Beach and sleep wear (part of)

Off to do some reading!

burda 9607

today we finally found a pattern for Miss 12's top to go with her new jeans. You may remember that I blogged about this 2 weeks ago. She's decided to go with the longer version but with long sleeves, made up in a lightweight khaki drill. She's letting me use her new machine until my Singer is back from repairs. Sorry about the photo quality, I'll take a better one tomorrow.

sewing and fat quarters

While at Sewing Machine World, I saw a perfect sewing machine for Miss 12. She's doing quite a lot of sewing and is finding that her little retro Singer Genie machine can't keep up. This is a Janome MS5027LE (it's one of the Breast Cancer support sewing machines). It was from their 2008 'old stock' and was priced to sell. I know Miss 12 will be over the moon.


They also had lots and lots of gorgeous fat quarters on sale, perfect for all those smaller crafting projects. So Miss 12 will have plenty to inspire her sewing.


Now I wonder if I ask nicely, whether she might even let me use her machine lol!

waitakere ranges rainforest

just sharing some of the photos taken by Miss 12 when she went on a school field trip last week to the rainforest in the Waitakere Ranges. The drive was 1 1/2 hours long and the day was wet and windy. Miss 12 is showing a real talent for photography. Hope she keeps it up.

sewing machine blues

(Photo by Miss 12)

I was just starting the quilting on the doll quilt when clunk, clunk, clunk, the sewing machine comes to a stand still. Despite my best efforts, I couldn't pinpoint what the problem is. So it'll have to go to the repair shop on Monday.

Now I've got the 'sewing machine blues' - boo hoo!

simple doll quilt

last night, after the children had gone to bed, I got stuck into cutting out my squares for the doll quilt. I'm a total newbie when it comes to the world of rotary cutters and self healing mats. So it took a bit of time for the rotary cutter and I to get acquainted.

Then today, as Miss 2 had her afternoon sleep (thankfully she slept 10 minutes longer than usual) I was able to complete step 1 of the doll quilt tutorial. Hopefully tonight, I'll be able to make a little more progress.

the scrap fabric stash

yes it's finally time to take a hard look at the scrap fabric stash and give it a good sort out. I don't like waste and try to do all that I can to reduce my environmental footprint with my crafting as well. So all the scrap fabric is put aside to use in one way or another. Apart from the fabric balls and my crazy patchwork dorothy bag (both still 'work in progress'), I've been on the lookout for some other small projects to use up my scraps. My pattern stash yielded this Kwik sew pattern for pin cushions, which could be great.


I discovered these liberty fabric scraps hiding at the very bottom of the pile. They were a $1 op shop find. These could make up a pretty doll quilt using Sew Mama Sew's doll quilt tutorials and there's enough scraps to make 2 doll quilt panels.

If you have any little project suggestions, I'd love to hear from you.

pasifika

every year at this time the Pasifika festival and Polyfest cultural secondary school competitions bring a uniquely pacific flavour to Auckland. It's a chance for many Aucklanders to get a real feel for the taste, sights and sounds of the pacific islands. I feel quite nostalgic when I go to these events. Te Vaka's very popular song 'Pate pate' (one of my all time favourites) brings it all together for me. Hope you enjoy the song too.



Pate Pate (Log drum)

LYRICS and Translations

tu la ki luga ke fai malama
get up stand up let your feelings be known
taimi tenei e fai na hiva
the time has come to perform the dance
tu la ki luga ke fai malama
get up stand up let your intentions be known
lue lue malie te gali o na hiva
swaying ever so sweetly the message in the dance

aue aue Oh! Oh!
tama mimita the boys are very bold
aue aue Oh! Oh!
teine mimita the girls are very bold
aue aue Oh! Oh!
hihiva mimita the dancers are very bold
aue aue Oh! Oh!
kikila mai la fakaakiali atu Watch me now, it’s my turn to show

e a mai tau faiva e a mai
“How is the fishing with you, how is it?” (Girl)
taku ika e fofou ai au
“The fish that I truly long for” (Boy)
e a mai tau faiva e a mai
“How is the fishing with you, how is it? (Girl)


CHORUS
hihiva ki luga hihiva mai ve
dance on up, dance just like that
hihiva malie ki te pate pate
dancing ever so sweetly to the Pate Pate (logdrum)

chant: hiva ki luga hiva ki lalo dance on up, dance on down
hiva malie ki te pate pate
Dancing ever so sweetly to the rhythms of the log drum

inspired by enid gilchrist

I have a small collection of Enid's pattern books. Now that I've tidied up the sewing/craft room and see that I have some shelf space available, I think I might collect some more.

Enid Gilchrist's pattern books are full of inspiring patterns and ideas. It's not hard to see that her patterns would have been a great resource for mothers during the 1940s to 1970s. Her patterns are easy to follow and draft and are as stylish today as they were when first published. Knowing that the patterns have been used by past mothers to make clothing, toys etc for their families is a very special feeling to.

pattern stash now sorted

This morning I dropped off the fabric and a box full of retro and vintage patterns to my local hospice shop. The ladies at the hospice shop are a very friendly bunch and were pleased to get some new stock for their crafts section. Going through my pattern stash brought back lots of happy sewing memories.

This was one of the first patterns that I ever bought. It made up really well in a reddish coral coloured muslin with matching cotton lace. I thought I looked quite stylish at the time wearing this top with my flared jeans.


This wrap around skirt pattern was very easy and made up in next to no time at all. My skirt was made up in a floral printed chambray. Although it looked nice, it wasn't a very practical skirt especially on a breezy day.


My mother made me the view 3 dress for a church social when I was a teenager. The skirt had huge pink swirls on a white background with a lacy bodice and sleeves. I thought it was the prettiest dress ever. It was such a popular style that I remember being a bridesmaid for 2 weddings wearing this same styled dress. Love those flirty sleeves.

Parting with patterns was nowhere near as hard as the fabric stash. There was over 30 plus years worth of pattern collecting to rationalise. It didn't take long (quite a few patterns were either 'stuck in a time warp' or 'not age appropriate') and I'm very pleased that it's done.

rationalise the stash

Yesterday I filled the whole bottom half of the shelving with fabric... lots and lots of fabric. This morning at 6.30am, I got onto the job of rationalising the stash. There was a sea of fabric around my feet and I'd no idea what to keep and what to part with. Working methodically, I've been able to part with quite a bit of fabric (now all bagged) ready to deliver to the hospice shop tomorrow. Yikes, the photo is a little blurry, sorry.

The stash is rationalised at last!

tidy up time

today was the day for tidying up. The craft/sewing room has been a mess for days with stuff now being piled up on the floor. So this morning with children in tow, I went shopping and bought some second hand shelving. It took 2 trips and the help of Miss 12 and Mr 10 to get the shelves into place. Then it was sorting through all the fabric. I didn't realise until today that I had so much fabric stashed away. I'm even embarassed to admit that there's lots of material that I couldn't even remember buying (sigh!)

Anyway, it looks like the weekend might be swallowed up by my 'attempt' to rationalise this rather large fabric collection.

As for my other stuff, Miss 2's dress is finished and ready to wear, the cushions are cut but not sewn and the curtains are hemmed and ready to be hung. I'm waiting for dear hubby to put up the new curtain rails. Miss 10's sewing requests are on hold, as she can't decide about her tops or her dress for the school social. And the A+O pants, I haven't even touched them this week.

surprise

the courier pulls up the driveway this morning catching me unawares. It's 7.30am and I'm still in my pyjamas desperately trying to tame Miss 2's wild hair and urging the older 2 children to get ready for school. It's our usual school morning chaos!

The parcel was quickly unwrapped by the 3 children to reveal 2 repro Barbie sets. Who sent them? I have absolutely no idea. So whoever you are, thank you very much!

vintage doll knitting

today's post brought me a friend's lovely gift of two wonderful vintage doll knitting patterns. I'm really excited to finally have the knitted dresses and cape pattern. Sadly, doll knitting will have to go on the wait list until I've finished my current projects.

I'm adding the finishing touches of hemming and buttons to Miss 2's dress. Then it's on to completing the hems on the curtains.Next is making the cushions and then onto Miss 10's tops.

ps. the a+o pants are still a work in progress.

today's song choice

is the beautiful 'Time to say goodbye' sung Sarah Brightman & Andrea Bocelli. So turn up the volume, get your hairbrush, wooden spoon or whatever ready and give those high notes the best you've got...