Poser

I made some skirts for the girls. I got some remnant fabric at Spotlight when I was in there getting elastic. It was only $2, so I got the meter. Half for each child I figured. But Sophie is taller now, so I paired hers with some leftover purple from her Easter Dress. Then I added ribbon, just because. 

It's pretty and swishy and just a bit long, but means she'll get a lot of wear out of it right? Rachel's isn't finished yet, because the half meter wasn't long enough for her either, and I'll need to lengthen it somehow. Still working on that.

Anyway, in an endeavour to take more interesting photos of the clothes I sew, I took these the first time Sophie wore the skirt on our trip to the Workshops Rail Train Museum at Ipswich. She's wearing a new shirt too, which is good, because it almost makes up for her grubby kindy shoes.

Sophie did have a little bit of fun posing for the photos, but in the end, never really held still long enough for a superb one. Not sure how other bloggers do it, but I suspect there are bribes involved.

Shades of Blue

When one has decided to mass produce for one's child, it is my strong recommendation that the material chosen, is all the same, or a very similar colour, thus enabling mass production to occur without having to change the thread on one's sewing machine. 

This was certainly the case for the quick sewing I did last weekend. Sophie needed new shorts for summer (and boy is it coming in quickly this year!) so I asked her to choose material from the stash (still trying to use it up before buying more) and got sewing. I was able to cut everything out on a Saturday morning and sew two thirds of it Saturday night. I ran out of elastic and needed to borrow a pattern for the last pair of pants, so the final sewing happened the following Sunday night.

Can you see what I mean by it all being the same colour? I had blue thread on Sally the Sewing Machine the entire time. So fast. Sophie got four new pairs of shorts. Three of which are Sycamore Shorts Patterns, which is my go to basic shorts sewing pattern (see?) I left the pockets off two of them (the blue flowers and the pink-ish one, but put them on the owl pants, because I had the coordinating blue (left over from Rachel's Easter Dress). The owl fabric I've used before in an Izzy Top for Sophie.

When I measured out the fabric, I noticed that I had just enough of the blue/owl combination to make one more pair of shorts, though slightly smaller, so I made a pair for Rachel. I kind of like the mix of the shorts and pockets being alternating.

And since I was making something for Rachel I decided I'd make her a dress too, just because I could. I have heaps of this blue with white flowers material left over too, at least another two meters I think. Actually not sure where it came from. The pinky material came from a lady at church.

The final pair of shorts were Clover Shorts, which are by far fancier in construction, although I left out the pockets, sash and belt tabs for easy sewing. I still did the cuffs though. I don't know where this fabric came from either, maybe the haul from my friend Kurt recently? But there is also loads of this still. I'll be making more shorts out of it in the future!

Winter Garden Spoils

So much grows in the winter. It surprises me, though I don't know why. Maybe because people rave about spring being the happening time for growing things. Meh.

This years growth of snow pea plants has far surpassed last year. When you water things regularly, and it gets enough sun, the growing really happens by itself. Originally I had some trellis up and my Dad convinced me it would need more, and it turns out he was right, because they have grown past the extra trellis.

The tomatoes next to them have also taken off, and not just cherry tomatoes this year! Actual tomatoes too! Unfortunately there is bad news, the possums have discovered the garden and are eating the parsley like there is no tomorrow. They also ate a whole half dozen strawberries that we had growing too. Rotten possums.

The other things we've got growing next to the snow peas are these beans. To be honest, I don't know what it is, but I will clue you in on how to grow your own unknown beans!

Give your children a pack of dried soup mix beans to play with. And some lentils and kidney beans and chick peas for fun too. Watch them pour these beans from container to container, enjoying the sound they make and hording as many as they can fit into an ice cream bucket.

Then watch, or don't watch, as they ignore your instructions to keep all of the beans in the large container and on the mat that you have placed in the yard, and cart the beans all over the place. Then wait as the beans are dropped and left in all sorts of places. Realise that you can't possibly pick up all of these teeny tiny dried beans and figure that the birds will pick them up.

A few weeks later, after the rain and sun have done their job, you will find a fair few of these dried beans have actually germinated and spouted in your yard, or in the garden or in the cracks between the pavement. Then you can pick them up, plant them in your veggie garden and wait and see what grows.

Who needs to buy seeds or go through a complicated germinating process, when your kids and nature can do it all for you?