Aprons

My parents love to travel. They travel a lot. I wish I could make it clear just how much they love to travel, but I feel like I'm failing, so I'll leave it there and hope you get it.

One of the places they like to travel is Antarctica, which is very cold, so on the expeditions they have been on, they also get an appropriately warm travel jacket to go with. They have one for every adventure to some very cold places, but very little use for these jackets post travel because they are living in Brisbane. These jackets, I'm sad to say, have become a rather bulky addition to their spare room cupboards.

Dad took me in one day last year and asked if I could cut them up and make "something". He didn't really know what, but he figured I could use the fabric and patches to make something slightly more usable than their current state. I'm not one to pass up the opportunity to sew, so I said I would think of something.

The only before photos I have are of the girls wearing these jackets, and this little video clip is much more fun than the photo. Behold the jackets, before I cut them up. I hope you are amused.

After ripping all the seams open and taking the outer fabric off I realized there was so much fabric in just one jacket that I wouldn't even have to open the other at all. I did take some of the patches off though, some I reused, but not all of them.

The other thing my parents love, as well as travel, is hosting people at their house. My mum is Greek, so there is always a lot of food involved. Both of my parents wear aprons when they cook, so I decided to make them each an apron out of the fabric from the jackets.

I used the back panel for one apron, and the front for the other. I had to use a bit of the sleeve pieces to pad out, but that was fairly easy. Because the front of the jacket had previously had a zip in it, I simply sewed that seam closed again to make the apron, and top stitched down both sides, for coolness I guess. I also managed to keep the zip pockets from the front exactly as they were - working and everything!

I stitched on some of the patches to the front as a feature, used some more of the red ribbon from our extension warming party for the ties (still have some left!) and I fully lined it with some bed sheet I found in the cupboard. I'm really glad I did that last step, because when I was looking at them just sewn they looked really messy, but once I had lined it and flipped it right sides out, they suddenly looked amazing.

Mum knew I was making aprons, because I asked to borrow one that she used as a template. Dad had no idea, and what Mum didn't know was that I had made one for her too. Here they are on Christmas with their aprons on. I think they like them.

Here is my dad at his BBQ ready to do some cooking.

Presents like this make me glad I can sew.

Owie Dolls: Christmas Presents 2018

The girls did get handmade presents this year! I can't remember when, but at least two years ago now, I made an expensive spur of the moment purchase of an Owie Doll Kit from Take and Make. You can't get the kits any more, but Owie Dolls are designed by my fav blogger Leir from Ikat Bag, and you can still get the pattern for the dolls from her website.

Anyway, it was so expensive (shipping to Australia makes me cry every time), that I almost couldn't bring myself to actually make it when it came. It was probably some form of denial that I had actually purchased something so expensive, and then paid even more expensive shipping costs. Sigh. So I put it in the cupboard telling myself I'd wait until the girls were older and make them for Christmas then.

Hello 2018. Busiest year we've had yet, just when I thought nothing could top 2017 and the Big Travels we had then. This year, we've been to Bundaberg seven times total, talked to builders, planners and who knows who else to start a renovation on our house, went camping for a long weekend with friends, celebrated 10 years of marriage (with a trip to Cairns!), Steve went to San Francisco for work, Sophie lost five teeth, Rachel got our first pets and I started looking after even more children. I feel a little bit like this doll after all of that.

Christmas rolls around and we are ready for a break. And of course, three weeks before Christmas I decide that this is the year to make the girls their Owie Dolls. Never before have I felt the time pressure of a deadline, even when I made these Bags from Santa two days before Christmas in 2014. Obviously they were much less involved. Owie Dolls were an entirely new level of sewing, even if I did have some soft toy sewing experience up my sleeve.

Finish them I did though, thanks in part to my parents who took the girls for half a day so I could finish all of the extra bits. Whew.

These dolls have short hair, because I couldn't be bothered making long hair, and I also wanted some gender diversity in the dolls we have. Their heads/faces seem a little wonky to me, probably because I can't sew straight even after all these years, but the girls don't mind a bit. They love them. Especially the bandaids, that they can Velcro on and off to their hearts content.

They have leg and arm bandages, an arm sling, head bandage, eye patch, reversible hospital outfits (including modesty pants), and slippers. So far they have been in numerous accidents and needed lots of care and attention and it looks like they will be getting loads more. I'm glad the expensive purchase was worth it in the end.

Baby Quilts

When I told the girls that two of their aunts, both of on Steve's sisters, were pregnant, they were pretty excited, but it was hard for them to get interested in things like baby wipes and laundry detergent, which are my go to presents for baby showers. I can't go past them though, boring they may be, practical they are. 

Anyway, I knew the girls wanted to give something too, so I thought of a way to include them and make something extra special for the babies. I was lucky enough to be at Spotlight when they had a sale and picked up some nice panel fabric to use. Wanting to keep it simple to feature and highlight the kids contributions, I just grabbed a matching colour for the back. 

Then I used some plain fabric I had at home, cut some squares and had our girls as well as their cousins (Steve's brothers three kids) each draw on two of the squares. At first, the kids were a little confused as to why their crazy mum/aunt was getting them to do this, but I think they appreciated the end product. 

Sophie and Rachel helped me to sew it all together. I just pieced the kids coloured squares with some extra monkey fabric that I had, and then sewed that into the back colour. After that, sandwiched the batting in, quilted it in sections (to match the kids panels) and then bound it all up. 

I think it's really special that their new cousins will get to have these quilts. I think there is something so lovely about seeing kids drawings in a practical way that will last for a long time. It's a real snapshot in time. I hope the babies that these are for get some good use of these and know that their cousins who live in Brisbane love them too. 

Now that these quilts have been given, I'm finally able to post about them! (Remember I was sewing them back in March?) Here are five excited cousins ready to give their special present to a mum to be.

And here they are with each of the mum's to be. It was special for all the kids to be there, and they were all so proud of their gift. Yay!

Space Capes

When someone hands you the bed sheets from your husbands childhood, I suppose the usual reaction would be thoughts like: "Why have you kept this? I think I'll throw them away." I'll admit, I may have thought the first half, but it was followed with "Free material! Awesome!"

It's moments like these that I know I've gone over the edge with sewing.

So earlier in the year, Steve's mum did in fact hand me some old bed sheets from his childhood. Two full sets, pillowcases included. Complete with doona covers. That's a lot of material. A lot. I was a little excited.

It was all space - planets and rockets and spacemen and what not, so I was inspired by things that fly. It will take me a while to get through it all, but I made a dint a while ago by making some capes for the kids to use as dress ups. While I was at it, I made some matching shorts. And not just for my kids, but also for five others. Mass production is really addictive.

They made good Christmas presents.