Denim Aprons

Today's great new discoveries: Jeans can make more than a quilt and I can finish things I start. :)

I've made two fun aprons for future kids to wear while doing crazy dirty kid stuff like painting. It's just a leg of jeans that was split open and then the pocket reattached. I had a heap of waistbands left over from when I cut up all the other jeans for the jeans quilt, so I used them for the neck band and waist tie. I love the way the buttons and holes all clip in together. :) They are big for kids (they fit me around the waist easily) but you can just put some knots in the bands and hey presto, it's smaller! 

Now onto finishing some other things on the to-do list, the first of which is some things for Christmas presents, which of course, means I can't post about them without giving away the surprise. Expect radio silence from me for a while I guess. :P 

I'm standing in the kitchen to type this for a number of reasons. Firstly, I'm making crepes for dinner tomorrow. I'd have to say though, it's more like failing to make crepes. Turns out I can't make crepes for the life of me, so goodbye to the dream of Salmon Crepes becoming a regular dinner, I think this will be the last time I make crepes. Possibly forever.

Secondly, I've put Sophie to sleep in the living room. I has this spur of the moment idea that it'd be good if she could sleep anywhere - and let's face it, she actually can already, but there is no harm testing and trying the theory. Now she's asleep in there though, I'm wondering if it's ok to sew.... probably. So far I've tried to walk past quietly and managed to trip over the power board (currently powering Sally the Sewing Machine) and run into a chair. Sophie didn't even blink. Win!

That said, I've still got crepes to fail at making, so why not use the time productively and post in the kitchen while I go! I've got some lovely stuffed tomatoes waiting to be popped into the oven for dinner cheering me on here too. Yum!

So today, in any effort to actually finish things before I get carried away starting new things (I have so many work-in-progresses at the moment it's a bit disgusting), I finished another Jeans Quilt top. I've yet to back it, but that will require a trip to Spotlight to procure some fleecy fabric, unless by a miracle it fits the back of the fleecy tiger rug I found under the couch, but I'm not hedging my bets.

I'm not exactly sure what is next on my agenda, that is, after the fail-crepes are made, but I'm sure I'll think of something. Steve's family are coming around this weekend for Harrison's Christening (Nephew Number 2), so maybe I'll tidy up the house.

So I say to Steve last night: "I still can't believe we've got a kid! It's crazy." And he says to me: "You don't believe we've got Sophie?" And I say: "Yeah, I can't believe she's ours."

And Steve says to Sophie: "Sophie, your mum doesn't believe in you. Good thing you aren't a fairy."

Cafe Church Quilt and Presents

Managed to get the last Cafe Church quilt made before the last semi-cold Cafe Church of the year last night. It was tight, given that I made a spur of the moment trip to Melbourne to visit Fiona during the week (Tuesday to Thursday with Sophie in tow!). I think it looks pretty good, although I'm a little annoyed that I didn't spend more time on the placement of the pocket pieces, because I have two of the same pockets in two of the rows. :P (Hence I'm not posting photos of all of the quilt, hiding the shame.)

I used some leftover squares from one of the previous quilts and a lot of denim squares from a number of jeans that I'd had saved up as well as a stack that Melissa gave me. :D Anyone with jeans they are going to throw away - please don't! They make great quilts!!

I have also recently made a really cool present for our nephew's third birthday in a month or so (and when I say made, I don't mean just with a sewing machine, but I actually used a drill as well! :D). I wish I'd taken some more obscure photos of it, so it won't be a giveaway, but hopefully the intended recipient won't see it before the party (well, that's probably a given since he's three and I'm not sure he can use a computer yet, but it goes for his parents too). In any case, here is Sophie testing it out for me. :) 

I'll post cooler photos of it in actual use when it's been unwrapped by it's recipient. :D 

Ops, I did it again. I've made more bunting! Hooray!! 

This bunting was made with Ikea fabric that I had leftover from a number of different things (couch covers, curtains, bags and most recently, a chair bag for Sophie). Thank you Ikea for providing such great quality, fun and colorful material at an affordable price. :D 

The house is super fun again. It makes me glad to come in and look around. The big-small nature of the bunting is fun, although I had an uneven number of bigs vs smalls so the layout was tricky. I'm happy with the result though.

This is the most recent thing I've made for Sophie: her chair bag. I was explaining what chair bags were to Steve, (you know, the thing you had in primary school that hung on the back of your chair and held your books and stuff?) and he said he didn't have one! Crazy! Sophie's is not for books, but rather for bibs and facecloths. So often I'm starting to feed her and I realize I've forgotten one or the other and this way, they are in a great handy location.

Made from some fun Ikea fabric, the bag is fully lined with two pockets for easy separation of bibs and facecloths. I used some piping I salvaged off an arm chair cover that was donated to church that I cut up a while ago and used in a quilt. The bag looks great and is so useful. :D I am well pleased with it. Here it is in action: 

What am I teaching her? In the last week, this thought has been going around and around my head. What am I teaching her? Because, weather I like it or not, just by the simple fact that Sophie gets to spend a lot of everyday with me, I'm teaching her things. I'm teaching her how to walk and talk. I don't have to do anything special, she is learning just by watching me.

And I wonder, what am I teaching her? When I don't eat breakfast until 10:00 some days. Or I leave the washing in the sink. Or instead of putting away my sewing stuff, I just leave it randomly around the house. Is she seeing me make an effort to go for walks and exercise to be healthy? Does she know that we go to church on Sunday because we want to, not because it's the "proper" thing to do?

It's a bit convicting and scary to think of, and the responsibility gets me down sometimes. And I wonder, if Sophie is learning so much from me, just by being around me, how much could I learn from God just by spending time with him? If I got into his Word everyday and took the time to pray, wouldn't I be being influenced in the same way Sophie is?

I think the answer is yes.

Thanks to the intensive cupboard clean out that Steve and I have had in the last few weeks, I now have numerous old work shirts of Steve's to use for sewing. The internet has a number of "Shirts into Dresses" tutorials for inspiration, so I've spent some time making a few.

It's really fun to sew with shirts, because the buttons mean that you don't have to worry about zips or things like that - they are already there! Hooray! This dress looked a bit too school girl to start with, so I ended up adding pockets (my first ever pockets!) and the caped sleeves and tie on the waist.

I like it. :) Too bad it won't fit Sophie for oh, I don't know... three years or so? :P She was pretty sad that I was taking photos of a dress that won't fit her for a long time, so I bought her in to help. 

She does enjoy eating things.