Monday again!

Well, it's Monday again!  How time flies, especially when you are having fun!  I weighed myself again today and surprisingly (and I say that sheepishly) I am still 77kg!  I wasn't particularly good last week, not really bad with food but shocking as far as exercise goes - I walked once!  Shocking!  So, I got up at 5am in the dark this morning and went for one whole hour!  It was gloriously cool and quiet - blissful!

My weekend was busy and fabulous!  I went to my first ever Australian Sewing Guild Industry Day!  It was so fabulous to be in a room full of 60 women who love sewing as much as I do.  Nearly everyone wore something they had made, the eye candy was great, so many talented seamstresses out there.  And the good news is I got lots of compliments on my dress and several women asked me for the pattern, and several gushed over my fabric choice!  How nice, and to think I ummed and aaahed about wearing it, I mean I'm no size eight, as the pictures tell.  But it felt good to wear something girly.  Note: the shoes in the pictures are not the ones I wore on the day, they were far more dressy.  These were taken by MrC at the end of a long day and he had little patience for making them look nice.  He'd had the boys all day whilst I had been swanning around playing ladies, and he was a little tired.  I, on the other hand, was still very merry as I think I portray in the pictures...maybe the glow was just on the inside, OR was it the wine...GRIN.

Oh, and here's a close up of my haircut...I love having a fringe again, I think it is much softer on the more experienced and succulent wild woman me!  I'm very happy with it, although it took a bit to get use to having hair hanging in my eyes again.  Oh, and the photo is soooo blurry, so I sharpened it a bit, so you can get a better idea.

And I finished my girlfriend's little girls dress for her Birthday on time!  Can you believe it?  I even did buttonholes, my first ever using my machine (which I have had for about seven years now), they were ok, if you don't look to close at them.  

I couldn't go to the party which I was very disappointed with, it clashed with the Industry Day, which I had already paid for or I would have cancelled it and gone to the party.  Always great to catch up with good friends. 

MrC took the boys and they had a great time, although the XMan did a disappearing trick and was halfway down a couple of hills before he was spotted by the search party!  Wouldn't happen on my watch, although that's probably because I know exactly how fast he can move. 

I got a phone call from the birthday girl on Sunday and sadly, the dress is a little too short for her, but with some pretty tights she should be able to get a couple of months out of it, before the summer is over...and then I'm sure it will get handed down to her sister. 

Anyway, here are some photos of it all pressed and finished.  The dress is the 100 Dreams Twirly Patchwork Dress that you can purchase the fabric from Spoonflower and make up yourself.  It was really very easy and went together no problems at all, all thanks to the great design work of Monique Daley.

Well, will tell more about my Industry Day experience once my head stops spinning from all the great hints and tips they passed on and sort my notes out, yes, I wrote notes, copious quantities of. 

Here are some photos of the boys enjoying the pavers being pulled up and revealing SAND underneath, they thoroughly enjoyed helping Daddy and spent all of Sunday playing in the sand...and spreading it everywhere, including in the house! 

All this is in prep for the extension to our house that commenced at 10am this morning.  As I sit here there is a hammer demolishing our outside back wall to make way for a new dining room.  Will post pictures eventually!  Must run!

Time Flies

Wow, I can't believe a week has passed and I haven't been back for an update! 

What did I do in the last week that was oh so important that I couldn't update anyone?  Well, let's see hhhhmmm, well when the boys were sleeping I have been busily sewing my black coffee date dress which is all done excluding the hem; sewing the lotus version of the coffee date dress; sewing my girlfriend's little girl's 100 dreams twirly dress for her birthday; and making a present for my girlfriend's birthday too!  In between this I have been looking after boys, lots of painting and play outside (which does not help sewing!). 

Speaking of boys, today I took them to a play centre!  My first foray!  I went with another girlfriend and her two boys!  The centre is aptly named "Go Wild" and oh boy, do they what!  The noise was deafening, and it was midweek.  My boys loved it, which was no surprise and because there were no school aged kids there today they were allowed to play on everything.  MrT had me a bit worried when he climbed all the way up to the ceiling (it's all netted), he loved it, he wasn't even worried that he couldn't see Mummy!  The XMan, thankfully was a little less happy to be out of sight of Mummy which made it a little easier. 

Well, it was a success and we'll go back.  Now we just have to wait to see if they picked up any nasty bugs whilst there!  I did take the hand sanitiser and used it religiously, but you can't stop a boy from wanting to taste everything in sight - The XMan was sucking all the ball pit balls, I'm having a bad feeling about that one; and MrT, who should know better at almost three and with Egg and Peanut allergies, was licking all the structures - what's with that??  Guess they take after their Mummy's tactileness (if that is even a word).  I have to touch everything, but I draw the line at licking it!

Oh well, they were tuckered out and slept for an age today...so I progressed nicely with my sewing.  Promise to post some pictures tomorrow.

Cheers
Deb

Fabric, Fabric, Fabric EVERYWHERE!

On Tuesdays my two precious munchkins go to Daycare, they love it!  They can't wait to get up, get dressed, have breakfast, put their shoes on and get in the car!  It's about the only days we don't have to ask them to do anything twice.  So while they are away I do the housework...I know, boring!  But it has to be done, and it is so much more pleasant, easier and faster without Mummy's little helpers.  The tradeoff for doing the housework in the morning is that I get to do whatever I want in the afternoon...sewing, of course! 

Well, today...my birthday present arrived in the post at 10.30am...Fabric from Spoonflower!!!!! I KNOW!  Drool, drool, drool...how am I ever going to get any work done now?????  For those of you who haven't heard of Spoonflower they custom print fabric on demand.  Yep, you can design your own, or as I did, cheat and buy other people's beautiful designs.  Each designer will even get a portion of the amount you pay for any of their designs you purchase.  What a great idea.



I'm in heaven, aren't they just divine :-) Happy, happy girl! Happy Birthday to me!!! This is what Mr C gave me for my birthday, took me till February to choose it, and March to receive it, but boy am I happy!!!!

I'm going to spend the afternoon washing, drying and preparing them for each of their projects.  Yes, I brought each piece with something in mind...that's why it took me sooooo long to get them.  Any excuse to just touch them, I am in heaven. I can't pick an absolute favourite I love them all for the projects I have in mind. I do LURVE the two yards of bamboo cotton it is sooooo soft, with beautiful drape and the big pink peonies are heaven, I'm thinking either a simple dress as the fabric is quite wide or a soft flowy, ruffley top...hhmmmmmmmmmm.


Hope you enjoy drooling over these as much as me.

The two above are two yards each of the softest bamboo cotton, just heaven.  These are large scale prints.  I plan on making some lovely, flowy, ruffley tops.

The three in the forefront are samples 8"x8", I thought I could make a glasses case with the middle one (very kitsch) and tissue cases out of the left, and maybe some zip purses from the right sample.  The one at the back is a FQ and is the most darling print.  Thought I might make a clutch purse.

This is the 100 Dreams Patchwork Twirly Dress by Monique Daly, just love this.  Have three yards, and each yard is printed with the pattern to make the dress for a little girl.  I am making them as birthday presents for my niece and dear friend's little girls.  Can't wait to get started, this afternoon! 

These are all FQs.  Starting from top left is a treasure map, I'm going to make these as pillows for my boys beds, we can talk about them when they are going to sleep and imagine far off lands, will be fun.  The next piece will be little zip purses, as will be the Wizard of Oz print, too sweet.  And the Car print will be a lunch bag for my oldest boy, we are making them at the March Sewing Guild meeting.

The Yard on the left are dolls, how awesome, what a great design.  The piece on the right, I adore, and I'm not sure yet exactly what to make...will let you know.

This is an old envelope that has been scanned in.  Gorgeous!  I'm going to make a pillow for my craft room.

Well that's it.  Hope you enjoy!

Deb

A Weighty Issue

It's Monday again!  On Monday's two of my girlfriends and I religiously get out of bed, go to the toilet, shed our clothes (you'll understand in a second) and weigh ourselves!  We then email the good, the bad or the ugly to each other!  It's our virtual support weight loss program.  We are all doing something different to lose weight, we all live in different towns in Australia and this was the easiest way we could think of keeping ourselves honest.


Today, as I have for the last six weeks, I weighed in at 77kg!  We started in November 2009 and I have managed to lose and sustain 4kg.  Which is great, but maintaining 77kg for six whole weeks is depressing!  Admittedly I have not been as diligent with my exercise as I was when I first started.  I walk for an hour three times a week, including hills and some running and I go to the gym two times a week.  Anyway, it's good to have to check in each week and it keeps healthy eating and exercise at the forefront of my mind.  I turn 40 in December this year and I'm really hoping to be back to my pre-baby weight of 70kg.  I'll keep working on it.


That aside I still haven't put my zip in my dress.  As it is a very rainy day today and the boys were going stir-crazy by 9.30am, I decided to head out to the shops and buy my ironing board for my craft room.  I no longer need to run up and down the internal staircase and leave threads lying around in the spare room, it will make 'Mr C' very happy indeed.  Now I just have to reorganise my craft room to get it to fit...

The boys had a great time running around in the rain this morning in their rain coats.  They were catching teeny tiny snails climbing up the wall and putting them in the bug catcher, boys will be boys.

Here's a sneak preview of my almost finished Coffee Date Dress designed by Elaine May and located as a free pattern on Burda Style.  This is my second dress and I'm pretty happy with the fit and the style, it is a beautiful, girly design.  Also, included a photo of the material for my next project, Kaffe Fassett's Lotus in Umber, I just love this material.  Kaffe is a fabulous designer. 

Well, that's it for today, better go and get those beautiful boys up from their nap or they'll never sleep tonight.


Cheers
Deb

A Sewing First

Yesterday, I attended my first ever Australian Sewing Guild event! I have joined the SewMuch2Sew arm of the Guild in Albany Creek. We meet every fourth Saturday of the month and pretty much it's a bunch of ladies who love to sew, talk, eat and drink tea and coffee! Yesterday, I though I had died and gone to heaven! I arrived at 9am and sewed blissfully till lunch, and then till three! Of course, I took projects that I had sewn before and I took three, only to be halfway through the first at the end of the day! I always plan too much and am disappointed when I don't meet my target...at almost 40 you'd think I'd learned this about myself by now!! But, alas, NO! The ladies were all lovely and in two weeks time I'm off to a Guild Industry Day at Capalaba. Not sure what I'm in for but it sounds like fun. And I found out yesterday that in June they are have a two night getaway to Bribie Island for $100, covering accommodation and food!!! Wow, and apparently the ladies from the CWA (Country Womens Association for those not in the know) do all the cooking and they feed well. So it sounds like a weekend of excess that I really don't want to miss out on. So I put it to 'Mr C' last night and he said...go for it! Love that man, he'll have the boys for the weekend...woohoo! So anyhow, I got home yesterday and was all inspired to finish my dress before bed time. Ha, after a barbecue and two glasses of red wine, I ironed my dress in preparation for the zip to go in...and realised I was way too tired for the stress of putting a zip in and called it a night. It's lunch time Sunday and we have just said goodbye to our dear friend Fi and her two boys and I could be putting the zip in my dress...no, I'm sitting in front of the computer typing...having a much needed cup of tea and some quiet time while my two darlings are having their nap. Oh, by the way, this is my first ever blog and first ever blog session...hopefully I will learn fast and don't break any unread blog ethics, if I do, please let me know. Love to hear from anyone interested in reading my humble little blog. Promise to get the photos happening in the next post. Stick around for some fun. Talk soon Darby