christmas cherries

appearing at ozebaby as soon as the whirlwind gives me five minutes to take some precise measurements without helping!!!!

Christmas plans...

I don't think I can do clothes in traditional Christmas fabrics,I've only ever bought one Christmas fabric, and that was by pure accident. I didn't realise it was a Christmas fabric. It was pretty subtle. Anyway, I think Christmas fabric sort of goes against my idea of clothes that you can get maximum wear out of.

Instead I've decided to create some pretty dresses, tops and shorts in fabrics that remind me of Christmas colours that can be worn all year round... weather permitting of course!

So this 'Strawberry Fields for..Christmas' is the first piece. I love this strawberries, reminds me of summer, and strawberries in champagne. Tomorrow I shall have a red vintage seersucker with black cherries frill to go up. :) Also maybe some more shorts.

I've set myself the goal of updating our ozebaby gallery. We've decided we'd like the gallery to showcase the clothes on kiddies. As much as we love our kids and we all know they are incredibly gorgeous, we thought having some photos of some other children in our gear would be great too! So if you have a great shot and are happy to have a photo of your child appear on our gallery please email your photo to tikki@ozebaby.com.au by the end of December. (335 x 450 would be a good size) Everyone that enters will go into a draw, and Lily will randomly select a winner to receive a small grab bag of goodies. She very likely may have selected some of the goodies too!

some previews for today

A couple of pieces that I plan to put up today.

I was finishing these off in my sewing room and telling Andy how the size 0 shorts are a cute above knee length shorter shorts fit for toilet trained toddlers like Lily. To show him I ran up to Lily's room and got her size 0 pair, and asked her to try them on.

"No Mum, you can try them on some other toddler,"she told me!!

belle

This is just the most gorgeous fabric, and I really really love this skirt. It's in very high rotation in Lily's cupboard and I'm sure it will continue to be so for a long time. It's up there on her favourites list along with her Dick and Jane dress. I think she's really beginning to develop some real model poses.

And as this is, apparently a dancing skirt, we had to get some shots of Lily dancing!!!

i like powderfinger

I do.

I don't listen to music as much as I used to anymore, but I still like powderfinger. I'm listening to them now because they're playing their live Karatha gig on tv... a big gig. I remember going to see them..ooh it must be 10 years ago when they weren't so big and seeing them in small venues. Man, must be showing my age saying stuff like that. Bernard Fanning is still pretty cute though.

Took the little Rainbow girl shopping on the weekend to buy her little friend Charlie a third birthday present. She wanted to get him a fairy stamp, we settled on a little flick drum and a copy of Charlie the Chick. I made the mistake of taking her into a surf shop, she spotted the havaianas, and insisted on having a pair. She would not settle for a pair with the straps that go behind the heels she had to have a proper pair of "fongs". She is totally in love with them, and made me put mine on when we got home. This is where I found them tonight, lined up together...this photo is supposed to show how cute and tiny a pair of toddler havaianas are, but I guess my size 5/6 ladies pair don't really illustrate that huh!

Ooh, and look at our little visitor in the mail box. We had a frog living in our mailbox for a couple of months earlier this year, sadly this smiley little fellow was only there for a day.

I've been muddling away on some big knitting projects for so long, mainly the wedding wrap, that I feel I haven't really got anything accomplished. It is getting quite long and isn't too far off being finished but something in me felt like a bit of instant gratification. So I decided to whip up this little cropped cardigan in some bulky weight yarn on 8mm needles ~ a quick knit that took about five hours max. The yarn I got on sale at Spotters for 50cents a ball, it took 110grams to make, so a total cost of 55 cents. I wasn't too sure about this yarn but it has washed up quite nicely. I should get a shot of this top on as it does look much better on, I'm definitely going to get my 55 cents worth out of it.

Look at this beautiful local yarn; it's all Pear Tree merino and Lara Down kid mohair ~ very yummy. i love the colours of the pear tree, the tones are just awesome . These are for some baby knits, but I think it might make pretty good sock yarn too!

op shop goodness ~ We visited an op shop that I don't normally go to because of its location, I had assumed it would be exie and be pretty much done over. The rack of "vintage clothing" did have me concerned but hidden away were some tubs of 20cent sewing patterns. I think these are some of my favourites yet, I love the school tunic. And yes, I know I'll probably never make it, but how could I leave that behind!!!

And I love the shirred bodice and sleeeves on the third dress here!

The Carousel Dress modelled .... at last !!!!!

CONFESSION:~ I did buy this fabric to make Lily a dress for her to wear on her second birthday..... she did finally wear it last weekend to her little mate Charlie's third birthday, he likes horses too apparently.

She wore it to the party with a tshirt underneath, but as the party was at the Barwon Heads playground, which just happens to be next to the beach, a little bit of swimming action was in order in the new swimming togs. These photos were taken that evening, a warmish one so no tshirt. Andy thinks the dress looks better with a tshirt under it.

Gotta love swaps :D

Gee I love swaps!!! :D

My Woolaholics Kitchen Cool swap arrived today, yipee!! and it is so perfect for me and arrived at just the right time, it is unreal!!!

Wrapped in this cute little basket (won't this make a great little project bag!) were two mug cosies, complete with mugs, and two gorgeous cotton dishcloths, both of which are too lovely to use as dishcloths. Isn't the tree one amazing, Lily thinks it is a dolly rug, so we are arguing over who that is really for.

Mug cosies are perfect for me as my cuppa always seem to get cold before I actually get around to drinking it, so these will be well used. Even Andy commented on how appropriate they are for me! And these are just gorgeous, I love the stitch pattern on them, and the yarn is lovely and soft too.

Dishcloths ~ guess what broke down on the weekend? Yep, our dishwasher so I now have the abhorrent task of washing dishes by hand until it gets fixed. I have dishes to do now, and I am actually looking forward to it as I can try out my new dishcloths. What good timing for their arrival!

So a big big thank you to my swapper, it's a great pressie and I love it!!!!!

damn those cats

I hate cats.

I particularly hate my neighbour's cats.

Unfortunately, they love our yard. This doesn't make for a very pleasant relationship between me and the cats.

Our garden is native. The area we live in has been classified Land for Wildlife, which is pretty good for a housing area, there was a conscious effort by the developer to create ample greenbelts flowing through the area and plant out lots of indigenous plants. It's really quite lovely and one of the main reasons we chose to live here. You can hear lots of frogs, not just in the little lake, but in our garden too. And we get plenty of native birds visiting.

My neighbour has two cats. She doesn't lock them in at night, despite the night curfew on cats, because they scratch on the door to get out. *roll eyes* The little buggers visit our garden and dig in it, crap in it and flatten bushes where they sleep. Sometimes when I'm chasing them out of our yard I swear quite loudly at them only to notice my neighbour across the road glaring at me

Worst of all, yesterday morning we awoke to cat spew on our back deck ~ gross!!!

and a couple more

a couple of dresses featuring some of my favourite fabrics, Lily has a dress in this paper doll fabric which she adores!

Lily and I got quite involved in some Little People play this morning, so I took the opportunity to finally embroider her wraparound. She told me the flower she wanted on it was the same as Aunty Megsie painted on her pants and tshirts, not a water lily.... so a calla lily it is. I decided to do a simple running stitch rather than back stitch it, I quite like it.

cup day

it's cup day and for the first time ever, Andy has the day off. He's snuck out to his workshop with the aim of working on some of his media and film work. Lily however, is pretty stoked about this and is now out there bugging him to paint with her in her fairy dress... at least he doesn't have to wear the angel wings like she made him on Saturday LOL

the house is spotlessish and I'm hanging out in the sewing room finishing off some pieces. There are baby doll tops and pinnies that just need minor things like buttons, straps or ricrac. I also spent Sunday afternoon cutting out a mass of shorts which are ready to sew up, so I'm anticipating getting something done today!

This afternoon, we're planning a bike ride together which will be heaps of fun!

Anyway, three pieces finished and ready to pop up this afternoon to celebrate cup day.

some random stuff

which is pretty much the way my mind is functioning at the moment, it's a bit all over the place, suffering from taxation time strain I suspect. Every year I promise myself I'll do the tax early, but of course I get complacent and think, "ahh, there's plenty of time," and end up doing it in the last week of October. This year takes the cake though.... I finished it at 8pm October 31st. Only four hours to spare.

Next year I will do it early...... I promise!!!!

the good thing is that the return will arrive at a time when we really need it, Christmas!

I've been doing a bit of sewing for Lily lately, which has excited her no end, as she desperately wanted a dancing dress and skirt. I was able to convince her that this skirt was a great dancing skirt, made with some lovely Amy Butler Belle and cotton spot fabric. It is very gorgeous on her but she managed to spill a tub of yoghurt all over herself before I could get a photo of her in it.

I also finally finished her carousel dress. I wasn't overly happy with the fit of it, so I changed the straps so they go straight over the shoulders and shaped the bodice a little more at the sides to make it narrower. Perfect fit now and apparently classifies as a dancing dress. Big brownie points for Mummy!! No photo but shall add a modelling shot soon :D

And here's a little work in progress, a little denim wrap around skirt. I'm really happy with this litte design as it is slim fitting but being a wrap around gives plenty of room for playing, I am quite stoked with myself. You can expect to see these coming to the store in the future. I've decided to hand stitch a water lily on the bottom corner for something different, just have to find/draw the right one.

And while she had Mummy's sewing attention Lily demanded I make her a skirt out of her strawberry fabric, I thought she meant some strawberry quilters cotton I have. Nooo, she meant her strawberry shortcake flannelette... we had to have a discussion about how that fabric was for making pajamas not skirts. She was quite happy with her new PJs but still insisted she wanted a skirt from the leftovers... I hid them.

My plans for today were some fabric washing. Given that it's bucketing down and there are flood warnings out for the local rivers, forecast is heavy rain, so it's not going to happen. I have some pinnie denim that needs washing as well as this box of op shop scores from our recent trip to the bush. Some country op shops are crap, but some are absolute gems!! All unused fabrics, love the black patterned seersucker (still labelled) and the green brushed cotton.

Also need to wash these Cosmo fabrics that finally lured me into Spotlight, the bottom one was reduced to $5 a metre!!!! That is just insane!!! I think I might be back for some more of the top two as I think I might make myself something from them.

And other far less colourful fabric shopping, the supplies for two little flowergirl dresses in satin and tulle.

Check out this wonderful tablecloth that was my Mum's. There's enough there to make something for Tully and Lily, I'm just pondering what though. Any ideas??

And this is Andy's new blue water diving suit. The fabric design is pretty cool. In the background you can see one if his other suits ~ for diving crap Victorian waters (which apparently is called a temperate water suit). How amazing is the camouflage!!

There is some knitting happening, mostly endless rows of the mohair wrap that is progressing nicely. It will be finished soon. In the meantime, some more op shop finds, dpns in original tags ~ 10cents. These are lovely to knit socks with!!

Longies perfection

These little beauties arrived a couple of days ago as part of a trade I am doing with the multi talented Kris from Monsterknits

OMG are they just perfect for Lily, the colours suit her and the fit couldn't have been better. They even have her name embroidered on the back inner waistband.



Seriously check out the amazing work in the embellishments, the subtle tonal changes in the lilies, it's amazing.

Kris is without a doubt one of the best embellishers I have seen!Lovely bright rainbow longies with lilies for our little Lily Rainbow

Thank you sooo much Kris, they are just stunning!!!!

Ooh, I forgot to take a photo of the gorgeous hand dyed and made wool felt bag they came in and the turtle stitch markers Kris even sent some extra wool so I can extend them so they can fit Lily for longer.


And here's a little babydoll top for the older girls I snuck up yesterday :)