my creative space ...

is being overtaken by kiddies!!!

 If he's awake the little man obviously has to go into the sewing room with me, but if I try to sneak off there while the Rainbow girl is otherwise engaged in some princess game, she invariably notices my absence and follows. She invades my space with all sorts imaginative and creative game playing.  Last week she turned a pile of polar fleece into a river, forest and flower field. And then the barbies invaded....

She's even began invading my visual diary, drawing her own  "designs" in there for me to make for her. She browses the stash and selects fabric and yarn for me to make things for herself.  She always manages to deviate my creative direction.  I love that she is so creative and really into crafts, but sometimes...

Anyway, check out the dexterity on these little threading fingers, the hole she is threading through is just a bit bigger than a pin prick.
wanna see more exciting and more grown up creative spaces?  kootoyoo is the place 

seriously.....

how damn cute can one get!!!

meet alexander...

We're off to a little first birthday party today for one of Lily's little friend's brothers.  After much discussion, Lily and I decided to make the birthday boy a softie.  I know that the little birthday boy has a bit of a pirate theme in his bedroom so we decided on a pirate softie. Lily helped me pick the fabrics and design it, although her picture in her visual diary was a little different LOL  

He is a little rough in spots as I tested the theory as to whether or not I could sew with Toby in the wrap in front of me,... um, well I can ... just, but I probably wouldn't make anything to sell  doing it. His little head does get in the way a bit, and when I'm sitting down he does sit higher on me.

Hopefully, the birthday boy will love him regardless :)

smarty pants ...

slow down already, alright!

This is Toby's new trick that he's been working on for awhile and has really perfected over the last fortnight or so, so much so that we don't often need the back up drop pillow.  Awww, my little boy is growing up.  Five months old today.

The wonderful thing about this new vantage point is getting to explore old favourites in a totally new way.

yes, he is trying to chew his play gym.

my creative space ...

I've been meaning to join in this little game for awhile now, you can find the details over at kootoyoo

This is what my creative space predominantly looks like of late, baby strapped to chest with sticks clicking away.  Toby loves to be carried, which doesn't leave a great window of opportunity for sewing.  It is however a fabulous excuse to spend eons of time knitting.. hehehe... 

I'm working on a little something for our Local Love stocking here, that Megsie has been gushing about .... it's all a bit exciting really ... and once my pile of cut out fabrics transforms into something more recognisable I'll share some preview pics too :)

sick of the princesses yet?

well you would be excused for being so... how long does the princess phase last for?  

Lily has been patiently asking for ages and ages for me to knit her this princess hat.  She's been pretty patient really, just insistent. I had some yarn set aside to do her some felted ballet slippers so I re-commissioned it for this project.  Of course, I left it until the last minute and was frantically hoping it would be dry in time for her birthday.  Luckily with a bit of warm weather it was.

Pattern:  Felted Wizard and Princess Hat
Yarn:  Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Worsted

Needles: 6.5mm

I love how the felting process takes something floppy like this:
and turns it into this!

Shades of Pink Rainbow Dress

In true princess fashion, pink is the colour of choice here. Pink reigns supreme.  So when upgrading and retesting the rainbow dress pattern, it's no surprise that Lily opted for a pink dress.
Loads of yarn in this dress for the big four year old; still a size 2 though just really really long.

Some new mods which will appear in the pattern upgrade; slightly altered bodice shaping, eyelet round in bodice and lace trim on hem.
She's already picked her yarn for the next one!!

oops

so i was having a little play with my blog layout and forgot to save all my elements before importing the fancy schmantzy template.

shall have to fix links and dodads later

four

The little rainbow girl turned four a few weeks ago.

Let me tell you, four seems big, old, humunguous and definitely no longer my little baby. When they're three, there's still that bit of toddlerhood you can grasp onto, but four... that preschool and school territory. Big kid stuff.  Thank goodness I have little baby Toby to ease the pain of the loss of the babyhood for Lil.

Now Lily love love loves a party, well, I think she actually more loves the idea of a party, rather than the party itself, but nonetheless she decided she was going to have a party for her fourth birthday.  Given that we spent her third birthday in a two man tent on the east coast in Byron Bay in pouring rain with no other family, we thought that was fair enough. She chose, surprise surprise, to have a Princess Party. And I was told very sternly that I had to write on all the invitations, NO PIRATES ALLOWED! .. . so I did.

The day finally dawned with lots of preparation and excitement.. Mummy was up half the night before baking delicious goodies and preparing the cake masterpiece.

The weather was perfect.  

The cupcakes were ready

gift bags for guests all done
teacups prepared (with a hell of a lot of chasing around on Dad's behalf to find Lifesavers, who would have thought a pack of Lifesavers would be so hard to find!??!)

And the cake:

Did she love her cake?

No, she did not. 

She hated the cake. 

She burst into tears and had a meltdown when she saw the cake. I thought she'd love it, I was up until two in the morning getting the ice-cream skirt to work. I thought it would be an awesome surprise. Who would have known she'd hate it. That she'd be worried that the boys would eat Ariel. And why didn't I make sure that she really couldn't see me pull Ariel out of the cake with no legs on!! Ooops!!

She did ask for a princess cake.... but apparently that's not a princess cake. A princess cake does not have a princess in it, she tells me.  A princess cake is apparently just a plain chocolate cake with loads of strawberries on top. Now I know. 

It was all too much for the little one and she crashed later that afternoon. I guess her yucky  cold didn't help matters.

And a little memento from the party. Little flags for the garden drawn on by the kiddies (and some grown ups). 
Happy birthday my big girl, you know you'll always be my baby girl really.