Denim Quilt

Notice I'm not calling it a Jeans Quilt? Because that would say it's similar to the other Jeans Quilts that have come before (see here and here). When in fact, it is not. It's still made of jeans, but also other stuff. And made in a different way. Thus, a different name.

Anyway. So you notice you have a pile of jeans like this lying around the house (or, more accurately, stashed in a cupboard, growing at an increasingly rapid rate). What to do, what to do!?

What else, but make a quilt! (Actually, there is loads of other things you can do with denim (see?), but quilts use lots of jeans in one go, which was the goal here.)

Anyway, I wish (as always) I'd taken more photos of the progress, but pretty much, you cut loads of circles out of denim and lots of squares of scrap fabric. You sew the circles together first and then put the squares of fabric in the middle. The way it all works out, the good side of the denim is the back of the quilt and the fabric side is the top. 

For this reason, this is a really cheep quilt to make. Because you don't need to buy batting (the stuff in the middle of the quilt), or binding, or backing fabric (which tends to be quite expensive because it's generally got to be quite large). Obviously it's not as warm as a quilt with batting in it, but because of the denim, it's still heavy and thus warm. 

This was the moment when I realised that even though I'd cut 120 circles and squares, I still needed twenty more of each, because the quilt just looked too short. Sigh. On the plus side, this is what the girls looked like at that point:

Which meant that getting the final bits cut and sewn wasn't actually that painful. Rachel did rouse herself to help me with the pins and sew parts as well. Sewing the squares in involves folding the flaps of the circles onto the squares and sewing around them. It gives the back of the quilt this fun floral circle pattern, which is nice.

It was hard to get a photo of this, not only because it is big, but also because when the girls saw what I was doing this happened:

I was running short on time and lighting (it was 4:45pm!) but I hope you get the idea.

I love looking at all the different scrap fabrics, again so much given to me by others! And some with long history - there is a scrap of fabric from the boxer shorts I made in grade eight Home Ec class! Yikes!

Ah fabric. From my mum, my friends, random strangers even! Fabric that I've seen the girls wear in dresses, or have used for their books, or bunting. Fabric that mum has in table cloths, or made me dresses when I was little.

Ok, I'll stop being nostalgic now and move on with life. Quilt made. Hope you like it.

Denim Again

Making another quilt. With denim. Yes! 

It was holidays, and I had seen an idea for this online, and I knew the amount of jeans I had horded, I mean stashed, I mean saved carefully for purposes such as this, was actually getting to be a little large. Culling had to be done! And it has.

Stay tuned for more quilting updates!

Pink Flowers Bunting

This bunting came about when a friend of mine asked to borrow some bunting for her little girl's 1st birthday. They've used my bunting before, so they knew I had plenty on hand, but happened to mention it was pink/flowers themed, so whatever I had that matched that would be great. I know that what bunting I do have would have been fine (this stuff I think would have easily suited), but I was suddenly inspired to make some more, especially for the party.

300 triangles later and we were sewing! (You've seen what 300 triangles looks like here.) Rachel was my eager helper at the sewing machine.

I used lots of material I already had. In fact, I didn't buy anything for this bunting! Steve was again delighted that I was using up some of the material stash. Again, I reflect that much of my material comes from donated sources, and am truly thankful.

The light floral on the left and the purple in the middle are from the same friend who donated skirt material (recently seen here and here), while both of the stripes were from a lady at church I know through prayer. The pinky colour in the middle was actually a curtain that was donated to me ages and ages ago (three years!) from I've no idea who, and the yellow floral strip at the top (that was the binding/string for the bunting) was from the same place. The only material I had bought (half price, from Scarafs at Indooroopilly) was the orange floral on the right. Very pretty.

And here is 30 metres of bunting sitting nicely ready to go to a party.

Photo courtesy of Jenn Pan

I wish I'd gotten better shots of it up at the party, but this was all I've got! Too carried away with the partying I guess. It was a beautiful day and, I like to think, the bunting really made things fantastic. The birthday girl got to keep some of the bunting as part of her present, and I know it's up in her room now.

Photo courtesy of R. Ho Photography

And my friend used scraps to make some bunting for the cake too. Let there be bunting everywhere!

Sewing Catch Up: The Final Skirt

Not sure why I'm really bothering with this skirt, but I made it and the other two (here and here) at the same time, so it seems a shame to leave it out.

This one was made from some pyjama pants that were again gifted to me for re-purposing. No pockets or fun piping on these. Just cut a rectangle and then sewing in some elastic. Easy.

I was trying to involve Sophie a little more in the photographing processes and asked her to do a number of different things. She had fun, but most of the photos are pretty terrible.

The last thing I asked her to do, was pretend to be asleep, which lasted for about a second, but at least I managed a good shot of the skirt. Kinda. :)

Anyway, if this post was a little boring for you, come back soon, because I'll have an exciting update on the recently made bunting!

More Catching Up

Here's another skirt that I made Sophie a while ago but hadn't blogged about yet (blogged about the first one here). I think maybe I didn't blog about it because it's kind of a brown-y colour, and Sophie really doesn't have much that will match it/go with it in the way of tops. But she wore it last week, so I took some photos.

 This is the best photo of Sophie by herself. She was very excited about the skirt having pockets that she could hide treasure in. That yellow material draped around her shoulders in the next photo was the treasure she's intently pulling out here.

And as always, Hugo and Rachel wanting to get in on the photo action. No one likes to be left out here. Anyway, the skirt is just a rectangle with some cool fully lined huge pockets on, that have the yellow piping from Reverse Garbage all the way around, for some extra coolness.

The material was a freebie from another sewing friend who wasn't going to use it. So nice to have generous sewing friends and I feel truly blessed by it.

At it again

I may be making some more bunting.

Because one can never have enough bunting, right?

Alphabet Box

Saw this idea a long long time ago on the internet somewhere and now have finally made it. 

It's just a box, covered in tape for strength. The foam alphabet stickers are a little tempting to the kids to pull off, but I've managed to keep them safe thus far. I wrote the matching letters on paddle pop sticks.

It's a fine motor activity and a letter recognition challenge! Hugo just likes to put the paddle pop sticks in, while Sophie enjoys the challenge of matching things up. If I want to make it more difficult later on, I can write the lower case letters on the paddle pop sticks, to match with the upper case foam stickers.

Catch Ups: Dresses

More catching up on things that I've sewn today. The first one is a little dress I made for Rachel's 2nd Birthday, back in June. I can't believe I haven't even blogged about her party, because it was a really cool party. Maybe I'll catch up on that soon too. 

Anyway, Rachel has heaps of clothes, and I'm always reluctant to make her more when she has so much, but it was her birthday, and I wanted her to have something special to wear. Even though it was winter, I made her this little sleeveless dress out of some cotton I had lying around. It has strawberry buttons and is lined with some fabric left over from my Block of the Month Quilt 2013 that was perfect for Rachel because it had little bees and ladybugs. She's really into the mini beasts that one.

On the day of the party, she wore it over a long sleeved shirt and pants, with a jacket, and now that it's getting hotter, she can wear it without. I like that it's a bit long lasting like that. Makes me feel less bad about making it. Also, it's her favourite dress, so if she can see it in the draw, guaranteed it's the one she'll pick.

Sophie and Hugo were keen to get in on the modelling action when they saw me photographing Rachel. This was handy because Sophie also happened to be wearing a handmade-not-yet-blogged-about outfit.

I had started this dress last year and I did blog about it too, while it was only half made. I pulled it out again just before Sydney, thinking that it probably wouldn't fit Sophie any more (given that an entire year had almost past), but that it would be good for Rachel for our Sydney trip. I chopped off the hem so it was more Rachel length and then finished sewing it.

Turns out it was too big for Rachel, so I regret chopping them hem. But it still looks good on Sophie, and she loves it. Win! The buttons on the front are blue birds and the pocket is her favourite feature. It's a little short, but that's ok.

Sewing Skirts

Feeling much better about life lately has meant a resurgence in sewing! I've actually sewn a few things now that haven't made it to the blog, but hopefully I'll catch up soon. Sophie has been the main benefactor of the sewing spree because summer is coming, and she no longer fits the things I made for her this time last year.

Part of what has made the sudden sewing spree happen was the trip to Reverse Garbage, because along with all the cool things for the rocket, I also picked up some pre-made piping for $2. It was a bargain! So far, it's appeared in two skirts, and I'm hoping to use it again in a skirt for Rachel.

This is the first skirt I made. Just a simple rectangle and then some self drafted pockets with the piping trim. I also put the piping down the side seams for extra colour.

Sophie was pretty hilarious when she was modelling it for me. The material was from a dear friend who was hoping I would get a chance to use it. Yay! I did! I'm really thankful for hand-me-down material, because sewing is an expensive hobby if you have to buy everything yourself. That said, Steve is happy that I'm working through the stash. Slowly but surely, I'll get there.

To the Moon!: The Cardboard Rocket Ship

I know you've been holding your breath in anticipation, and I genuinely hope I haven't caused anyone to pass out while you've been waiting, but here it is! Those obscure shots I shared a few days ago, were in fact, the makings of this enormous cardboard rocket that now resides in the living room. 

I started with this large sheet, which was the same that I had used for the cardboard boat. It's super thick and durable, so I'm looking forward to it lasting a long time. I wish I had more of it, because it's such quality cardboard, but that's all there was, and unless someone I know needs to buy a new BBQ soon, I won't have any more for a long time. 

I gave the side with words on it a quick coat of paint with the leftover cream from the shop, but other than that, I didn't really do much paint this time. That sheet served as the walls, and I cut the roof and fin pieces from another big sheet of cardboard that I had, this one from the time my parents got a new outdoor table setting.

The walls cardboard already had a fold in it, so I was a little constrained as to how many sides my rocket would have. It ended up with five, one space being the door and the other four being walls. I'm glad I didn't put a door on, because that is the first thing to go, and it would have meant there was much less actual space inside the rocket. I wanted there to be enough room for all the kids without pushing.

Here it is coming together outside. That bit of cardboard at the bottom of the door never really ended up being there. I still have it, but it hasn't needed to go on yet. We took it all inside to decorate the inside of the rocket before really assembling it though. Check it out!

That photo was taken at night, I'm afraid, with some terrible lighting, but cool right!? We went to check out a place called Reverse Garbage just for fun and found a stack of stuff that I could use. And then, Steve got all excited and went through his geeky computer stuff box and found a stack of stuff we could put in too. I've got better close up photos later on in the post, but yay! Ipod, mouse, random inside of a computer thing, switches (that actually switch!), internet connection cables, radio antennae, audio cables and an old tuner. FUN!

Here is Sophie helping me decorate the outside. All of those silver foamy things were stickers we found at Reverse Garbage. They were excellent. I relocated some of the ones Sophie put on, but she did have a lot of fun doing it.

All of the joins are reinforced with pop tape from Spotlight. I got it on sale, so the colours are a bit mixed, and it wasn't a sticky as it once was, but that's what you get when buying on sale I guess.

The roof has two windows cut into it, with "glass" as well. They are dip or yogurt lids that I had saved for some purpose. I just traced them, cut the circle and then hot glued them into place. I like the way you can actually see clearly through them.

The fins are two pieces each that I glued together and then onto the sides. They were the last bits to go on. I'd like to reinforce them with some more tape, but all I've got left is pink, so I'm a little hesitant. Maybe if they start looking a bit ratty.

Needless to say, the kids have been loving it. Even that they can just go in and be in a secret place is enough for them half the time. They also love leaning out the window and saying hi. I wonder if I should put some "glass" on that window too, but it's very big, so I'd really have to look to find a piece of plastic that would be right. Meh.

Ahh! Inside close ups! Those stickers say "Service" and "Back Up". They were from Reverse Garbage too (as are all the other stickers). The switches they are next to flip on and off too.

That clip is holding on to all of the sticker backs, and it came off a lanyard Steve had for NDC in Sydney two weeks ago. The kids can pull out those cables and put them in, though it does take them a bit. The tuner is the first tuner I bought when I started playing guitar (a long long time ago!). It still works, so we put batteries in it. The kids can turn it on and when they talk at it, the lights change and flash and stuff. 

Here is Sophie checking out the mouse, which clicks and has a scrolling wheel thing. It's up there next to my old ipod, which still works, but really, was never going to be used again. The kids really have no idea what it is. There are stickers above the ipod and mouse that read: "Wet Ice", "Dry Ice" and "Perishable". The stickers on the other wall (behind her arm), read "Dry Stores" and "Stores".  

"Waste" and "Customs" stickers, another switch near the numbers there. An old Voip phone Steve found and Steve's old web cam. Cables and sockets and things. Fun. Oh, and a hook thing up the top there. I hung up some space helmets on it today though and found out it's too low and blocks the window. Bummer.

At last, Rachel, checking the sound plugs. It's only really be up and running for a day (putting it together didn't take too long actually (compared with how long some things I make take), and I'll put it down to having Steve on board with the project. So helpful is my husband. Yay for marriage!) but the kids love it. Humm, that sentence got away from me a bit there...

Anyway, the other thing I have to say is that I had to do a bit of living room reorganisation for this rocket, because once we made it, it was too big to go through the doors. So, unlike many of my other cardboard creations, I can't store it under the house when they get bored with it and bring it back out again in a few months. Since it will be here for a while, I thought I'd tidy up and actually make room for it.

If you are looking to come over, get ready to have a play in the rocket, I won't judge.

Cardboard Teaser

I've been at the cardboard again!

I don't want to talk it up too much, but it's pretty amazing, and if I were you, I'd be checking and rechecking for the next few days so you can be the first to see its awesomeness.

Can you guess what it is?

Garden's Growing

Everything has been growing rather well, even though we left for a week and nothing got watered in our absence. Every day the kids love looking for snow peas on the vines and promptly eating them. I think the $4.00 I spent on the pack of seeds has been totally worth it. We have eaten fresh snow peas every day for the last two weeks.

The other exciting news is that we actually dug up some sweet potatoes! I had planted a sweet potato ages ago, that had sprouted in the cupboard. Wasn't sure what would come of it, but a vine popped up. Of course, I know nothing about how to tell if anything is growing under the vine, or how to encourage it to grow under the vine, but I watered it none the less.

I was pulling up weeds last week and out came a sweet potato. I was so surprised, and a little unsure about how to tell weather they were ready or not, but I covered them up and had the kids dig them up the next day anyway. They were delighted. There were only two and Rachel was a little bummed about missing out, but she got to wash them with me, and the vine is still growing, so hopefully we will have more in the future too.

Madeline Costumes

It is rather delightful when your children enjoy something that you yourself loved as a child. I don't know what it is, but there is something about it that just brings you back to the way you felt and how happy you were. Ahh, lovely memories of childhood.

Sophie and Rachel have started to enjoy longer books, including Madeline, by Ludwig Bemelmans. There is something really comforting about reading those initial rhyming phrases: "In an old house in Paris, that was covered in vines, lived twelve little girls, in two straight lines." We only have four of the books, but every so often, I also let them watch an animated episode, so they are really getting to know the characters.

Sophie is really into using her imagination to be other people, so it was no surprise when she declared one day, that she was Madeline. Rachel, always the eager accomplice, was Miss Clavel, the nun. Hugo has been given the role of Pepito, which he seems happy with.

So they played and played and even though I was busy and stressed, I decided I needed to spend a half hour making them some costumes. It was therapy. I didn't have a pattern, and I wasn't too worried about longevity or completeness as such, but I just wanted a little something for them to put on to help them embrace their imaginative play.  A bit of yellow material let over from table cloths at a friends wedding (I've used these left over table cloths before in several things) and some white scraps and we were good to go.

I wanted to give Rachel the option to be a little girl, rather than the nun who looks after the little girls, so I made two Madeline costumes. Then I made a Miss Clavel costume as well.

These photos of them always make me smile. They were standing there together and I said "Girls, can you hold hands?" and Rachel takes both her hands and gives me the biggest smile that says "Look Mum, I'm holding my hands!"

Again

Ahh, again a long silence in blog land. There has been a lot going on, and I've really struggled with finding the time to write. I've done a fair few things that I want to talk about, but getting them all together and on the computer - always a difficult task.

Anyway, on Monday, Rachel and I made a cake. I feel like it's a fairly similar cake to this one Sophie and I made in October last year. Not similar in looks or type, but similar in the feelings that went into it. Steve and I had been away in Sydney with the girls last week and we got back Sunday night. Monday was a reminder that work had to start again, even after a lovely little break. So we made a cake.

Rachel wanted a blue cake, and I thought the layers would be fun. It was fun. It's just a plain vanilla cake, (that sank a little because I checked it too early), but it's colourful and moist and delicious.

Cake. It makes the start of a working week just that little bit better.