Honey (and other) joys.

We are now in Kindy holidays which means four kids at home! Days are full of backyard time, kids battling each other for pens, puzzles and food, and me trying to distract them with music and baking. As well as the usual huge amounts of washing. And requests to go to Kindy!

Meanwhile I am slowly working through my fabric stash after abandoning two(!) nearly finished boy's jumpers from winter. I'm quite sad admitting to this and regret not just making one in full. But I'm loving sewing and fantasising about cute clothes for summer. So far I've a few items for Miss S done needing to be blogged, and I'm hoping to keep making some simple stuff every week.

One year old

We had our little party for Strawberry's first birthday on the weekend, which was great.  Lots of girlie looking treats, flowers and paper dolls on the walls, and more little kids than we have ever had before at a party!  Most of whom loved running wild in the backyard.

The cake was inspired by the classic Australian Women's Weekly one, but decorated in a girlie way.  I had to use musk sticks as I just love them and wanted an excuse to eat them!  Just the classic butter cake with buttercream icing (Women's Weekly recipes of course).  I think it's really worth making the cake from scratch rather than a packet mix- it just tastes much better and is still easy.

Can't believe our little girl is one- she still looks like a baby to me- yet she thinks she's a grown-up and says 'bye-bye baby' to older kids!



And no, I didn't end up making her dress- too much deliberating over fabric and pattern choices and too little time in the end.  So thank you Esprit DFO for a lovely party frock for our little doll.  And thank you to the birthday girl herself- what a joy you are for us!

Happy Australia Day!

Still feeling sick, but not so sick I couldn't enjoy my husband's damper with butter and golden syrup!

Have a fantastic day!

Merry Merry Christmas!

Didn't get to post as intended yesterday, so here I am on Christmas night, after all the festivities are over and my exhausted kids are fast asleep.

Some of my last minute attempts towards a bit more of a home-made Christmas this year-  bird ornament pattern from the Purl Bee here- easy, cute and well received by my extended family last night!



And my favourite cookies, made Christmassy with Craisins and white choc chips.

For anyone who may be swinging by, a very merry Christmas to you and your loved ones.

Inspiration

I had a fantastic time today at the Easton Pearson exhibition at GOMA- sadly the last day of the show. After initially being not particularly desperate to see it (hence leaving it until the last day), I am so glad I went. At one point I nearly cried, I was just so into it.

I don't actually own any Easton Pearson clothing, and don't pay it lots of attention in the shops as often the pieces are not the most flattering shapes for me, and it's usually a very embellished, not super practical look. And it's not generally considered a young woman's label. That said, I knew a lot of the stuff is actually made in Brisbane, which is really rare these days, and a lot of attention is given to handmade finishes.

Anyway, in the gallery setting I was able to have a good look at some of their best pieces, and there were great descriptions of how the items were made. And the clothes were just stunning! Absolute works of art. So I left feeling really inspired, planning to put to use some of their finishes like grosgrain ribbon belts, running stitch embroidery, clothing handpainted after construction, and trims like cotton tape and rick rack. Maybe even frills with fishing line edges.

Being the inexperienced blogger I am, I forgot to take my camera so very sadly no pictures! Do check out their beautiful work though!

Which brings me to another source of inspiration- Charlie and Lola. This is my son's 2nd birthday cake from a few months ago- he is wild about Charlie and Lola, particularly Lola, and at the moment even more so about Lola's friend Morten. Charlie and Lola make an appearance on our TV most days, and I adore Lauren Child's style of illustration. Lately I have been enjoying her Pippi Longstocking (supposedly bought for the kids) late at night. I find myself dreaming of having my little girl dressed entirely in 'patterny' Lola-style outfits made by me. And of my son growing up to be as lovely a big brother as is Charlie- surely seven year old boys are not normally that patient and kind with their nagging little sisters?