Christmas Sewing

I thought that the girls had Christmas dresses, or at least Rachel would have, since she should fit Sophie's from last year, but no matter how many times I went through the cupboard, no outfits were to be found. So off to Spotlight I went to grab some fabric. 

The girls came with and we came back with two pieces of Jocelyn Proust fabric. Rachel's was a little more pink than I would have liked, but I couldn't talk her out of it. Sophie liked it so much that she asked if there were leftovers, could she get a pair of shorts. 

So I made Rachel a dress, using the bodice pattern from the dress I had made for the girls for Fiona's wedding. I didn't have Rachel around when I was tracing it though, so I just traced the size six and winged it with the adjustments. I also lowered the back neckline, so I wouldn't need a zip that was as long and could use up one from my stash. 

I could absolutely have traced a size five for her though, because the whole dress turned out enormous. Two darts in the back and pin tucks in the skirt and it's wearable for this year, and next year I'll just let all that out and she can wear it again. Excellent. 

The lace in the skirt is also from the stash. I had the exact amount for twice around, so that felt very good. And I had exactly the right amount of fabric left (half a metre) to get a pair of shorts out for Sophie. 

I don't love it when they match, but I wasn't going to not make the shorts and let the fabric go to waste. I used the Clover Shorts pattern again and Sophie loves the pockets. 

I was planning on making her something out of the other fabric we had, but it was already the second week of December by the time I made these, so it didn't feel too worth it. Sophie's shorts are pretty loose, so they should fit her next year too. 

Hopefully it's not too matchy... in any case,  since both girls will have another year wear out of them, next year will be less matchy once I make a second Christmas option. 

Save the Trees

One part of owning a house that I have loved, is how many things we can grow in the garden. Gardening has been documented on the blog here before, though I feel somewhat erratically compared with sewing. As I began to get everything I needed together for this post, I noticed a significant lack of photos and records of gardens to be found. Time to try and rectify that I suppose!

As I mentioned in my post about building a shed, we were about to embark on another round of renovations for our house. (See and read about renovations here.) This time, to build a granny flat (or nana flat), under our house for Steve's mum. While we were at it, we figured we'd also relocate the drive way and get a covered carport, build a small veranda on the front of the house with a roof, relocate the stairs and landscape the entire front yard. Why not right? In for a penny, in for a pound. 

Since we were doing a whole lot of stuff to the front, it also included the relocation of most of our front yard gardens. Some of this was pretty straight forward (like the jasmine vine I had growing over the fence at the front corner), while others were tears and heart break. Not sure this will be the most interesting post for many people, but given that I want to remember these things for the future, and this blog is the means by which I do that, so tough luck. 

The first heart break was when we realised the entire water tank side of the house was about to change, and all the hard work we had put in only just over 12 months ago was about to be ripped out. The plants in the garden were fairly easily taken out and put into pots, but the glorious passion fruit vine was too tricky to save. 

I took photos and labelled things for Steve to dig out for me, but I also did some of the work too. Some plants (mostly succulents) were donated to the school gardens, most of the others were saved. 

This was the sight after we were done. Pretty sad compared to what it was, but I'm hopeful that what we transplanted will survive. And, we dug up the timber that was the garden bed edging there and used it in the back yard to re-edge the entire back garden bed. We also dug up the soil and used it to top up the back garden beds too. Anything we could salvage we did. Our neighbours even took a few wheelbarrow loads of the river stones from the pathway for their garden. 

The three camellia trees at the front of our house, which had probably been there for 60 years, were unable to be saved, like the jasmine vine by the front fence. I'll get another jasmine when we are all done, because that one was given to us as a house warming present by a good friend of mine, and I'd like to replace it. 

When we bought our house, there were two palm trees in the front yard. One of which, was growing right under the powerlines, so we cut it down, I think just last year. The other one we left, but needed to go for the renovation, so that one went too. Bit of a shame, since it shaded the front bedrooms now that it was so tall, but there was nothing for it. 

The last thing in the front garden was the four trees we had planted in the last three years. These were over by the fence on the left as you look at the house from the street. 

I love these trees. We actually bought two of them (a Blueberry Ash and a Luscious) in 2017 before we renovated. Since we started renovating though, we left them in pots and forgot to water them. When our renovation was nearly over, I took what looked like to be dead trees and planted them by the fence. Our builders then though I was crazy, but I was confident that I could bring the trees back. 

They did come back, and went from being about a metre tall, to four meters tall. We added the Australian Frangipani (third tree from the left), and a second Luscious just last year. All four trees were happy with their lives and grew tall and strong, aided by all the beautiful compost that Steve gave them too. The plan was that they would grow up and shade the front rooms of the house from the western sun. 

The second Luscious nearly didn't make it, but Steve and I worked to bring it back from the edge and it was doing fine when we realised that the new carport and landscaping of the front yard would mean the removal of all four trees. Devastating to say the least. 

In what may be a vain effort, Steve put in a number of hours digging up our beloved trees and replanting them. Three of the four when into our temporary pots made of garbage bins with drainage holes. We just aren't sure where they might go after the reno is done, and didn't want to have to move them twice since we weren't sure they would even survive the first round. 

The Blueberry Ash we planted out on the nature strip, and we hoped it would grow where other trees had failed. Even though I want to remain hopeful, I have to be honest and say it does not look good for the poor Blueberry Ash. The nature strip has about twenty centimetres of good soil and is then clay all the way down. Research has told me to work gypsum into the soil, which we will absoloutly do before we plant anything else there. I'm still hopeful though - I bought the Blueberry Ash back from the edge once before, maybe we can do it again! 

The three remaining trees in their temporary pots are living in the back yard supported by the tree house, and getting regular water to stay alive. 

The back garden is looking better than ever, with new edging, filled with good soil and mulch. And my saved collection of plants are doing well in their little corner behind the lime tree near the compost bins. Hopefully I'll get to plant them in a front garden bed again, when we find out what it all looks like after the mud is gone. 

The other thing I've done recently with plants is move my bonsai to a real pot! 

I've had a lesson in how to cut and style a bonsai, and I'm looking forward to this little guy growing into his new shape. 

Things that Bring me Joy

The girls' discovery and subsequent love of Tintin books. 

The school library having this on the shelf, as well as the five Spiderwick books, which we read together in quick succession. 

Rachel, spontaneously reading to me while we wait for Sophie at jujitsu. 

Sophie, and her Wings of Fire books - these are read, reread and studied all the time. 

Rachel, reading books to the guinea pigs. 

Buying a book for the girls, and reading it myself to find it's pretty fabulous. The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl: Squirrel Meets World. Can't wait to read more of those. 

When I wake up in the morning and find these two on the couch together, reading the bible. 

Creative Rachel

Sometimes things just fall in to place. You wake up and have some egg whites in the fridge that need using up, sugar eyes in the cupboard that have no purpose and a Rachel who could use a little something to do while Sophie is out. 

So you make meringues. Dip them in chocolate and add the eyes for fun.  

All is right with the world. 

People Have Babies

 So I make shorts.

To give to them for their babies. 

And because mass producing small things is a great way to feel very accomplished. 

Duck Cake

Every now and then, I really feel like I'm winning a Cool Mum Award. This is one of those moments. Sure, we may be way more strict on screen time and healthy eating and bed times than other parents, but we are also the parents who say; "Let's spontaneously make a completely ridiculous cake for no reason whatsoever. Yes." 

And so I give you the Duck Cake. 

This is the infamous Women's Weekly Birthday Cake Book Duck Cake which has recently been made more famous (if that is at all possible) by appearing in the Australian children's animated series Bluey. It's just such a fun cake, so when the girls were having friends over and we needed to make something for afternoon tea, I said "Let's make a Duck Cake!"

We did. 

The girls did lots of it, and we decided to make it a black duck because chocolate. Obviously. 

And it was flipping fabulous. 

Catching Up

There was a little lull in life back in September where there were finally no more lockdowns and I had some breathing space to sew. So sew I did. 

Firstly, all the things that Sophie had brought home from school for me to fix. Insert eye roll here. I mean, I'm a little chuffed that Sophie things that I can fix anything, but I also don't love to just be fixing things. The girls' school has heaps of stuffed things that the kids use in class - sometimes they are weighted to help the kids with sensory needs to sit and focus, other times they are just soft toys for squishing, or pillows for reading on. The Japanese teacher also has a giant Pikachu that she uses as a class reward. 

Whenever Sophie notices that one of these has a hole, her hand is up and she's offering to take it home for me to fix it. 

This Happy Cat is glad I have fixed him. 

When I wasn't fixing these school-related stuffed items, I was digging through my sewing stash looking for fabric to use. I found a bunch of free patterns online from Mood Fabrics, and thought I could give sewing up the Cypress Dress a go. Mum had given me some green Japanese looking fabric which I didn't see myself using for anything else, so I figured why not. 

I had actually already used a section of this fabric to try to make a retro style blouse, which turned out to be a failure for me. I guess I don't often share my sewing mistakes, but this was one. Not that the sewing was bad. 

Actually the sewing was some of the most professional sewing I had done, but it just didn't look good at all when I put it on. I ended up giving it away to a girlfriend who might get some more wear out of it. 

And I went on to use the rest of the fabric in the Cypress Dress. 

Which I was much happier with than the retro top. There are some things that I would adjust next time, but otherwise, it's a workable dress. I actually had three perfect buttons in the stash, so I just sewed up the bottom part of the dress, rather than going out to buy more buttons, and just have buttons on the top part. 

Because I used some of the fabric to make the failed retro top, I didn't have enough left for both pockets and sleeves. Pockets obviously won. Maybe the next Cypress Dress I make will have sleeves, but given that we live in Australia, this dress being sleeveless is not really a problem at all. 

I had just enough scrap fabric to make a matching mask, so when I wore it to a wedding in August, I was super fashionable in all the COVID ways. 

Made a Shirt

Remember back in March when I learnt to make a men's button up shirt? Well, I had enough fabric left over, so I used it to make one for my nephew for his birthday. Check out that pattern matching! 

He loves these kind of loud, button up shirts, and I was pretty stoked to have been able to make it for him. I just sized the pattern down slightly based on his measurements. 

I think he liked it. 

Camping Memories

 Last camping trip. Maybe ever.

It sounds very fatalistic, but in the lead up to camping at the start of October, I started to realise that even though I would love for us to be a camping family, we just weren't. Camping wasn't a priority for us. Steve was happy to camp, but it was never something he would actively suggest or be excited about. While I loved going camping, I had to admit, I wasn't advocating for a four wheel drive, or to go off an explore places that were any more than two hours away. 

So while I was a little sad at the realisation, I was also ok with it too. We aren't a camping family. 

That said, we did have a great time camping with Steve's mum, brother and all the kids for four days at the start of October. 

We took everyone back to the property at Fernvale where we had camped in 2020. Steve's brother had bought a four wheel drive (he's committed to camping), at the start of the year, and as soon as I heard, I booked us in to camp together. It was perfect. I was a little worried the kids would get sick of each other, but they had a great time playing together. 

We hired the kyaks and paddled around on the river. The days were warm enough to get in the water, at least a little anyway.

Everyone tried fishing. 

Rachel caught a fish. 

We played card games, we had campfires, we ate all the food. 

The last night, we watched the grand final of some sports ball game, which I never would have even though would be something we would do while camping, but it was important to John, and it was his birthday, so we did it. Glad we were in range for the wifi to work, or I think he would have packed up and driven home. 

I loved waking up to these little girls in our tent. 

And it was over at just the right time. We packed up and came home. 

I have given away most of our camping stuff since then. Camp chairs, the four man tent, the huge twelve man tent, the cast iron saucepan, the self inflating mattresses and all sorts of other stuff. I'll admit, I haven't got all the way yet. We still have one box of camping related things in the garden shed; plastic plates and cups, the lantern, the bread toaster thing, as well as one two man tent, which packs flat and easy to pop up. 

So if I did feel the need to take the girls for a one nighter again, I've got the means for a little while longer. Our street people are talking about a group camping trip too, but I figure, if we go with people who camp - they will have all the stuff right?