The Little Mermaid

Once upon a time there was a little girl named Paige. 

Paige was a beautiful maiden, with hair of gold and eyes as blue as the sea.

But Paige was afraid of the water. She cried in the bath if the water touched her face, and she would only swim with her Mummy and Daddy if she was carried, or in a swimming ring. 

One day Paige's Mummy took Paige to swimming lessons and she was a little worried.

But Paige was brave, and she climbed into the warm water with her cousin and her teacher. 

She learned to paddle with the kickboard. She learned to paddle without the kickboard. 

She learned to paddle on her back. She wasn't afraid to jump in the water. 

She even put her face in... for a second.

Paige began to see there was no reason to be afraid of the water. Swimming was fun. 

It didn't hurt to have water on her face!

At the end of the lesson, Paige's teacher gave her a stamp on each hand for being such a good learner. One was a smiley face and the other one said AWESOME. 

Paige hopes her little brother Heath will come to swimming too.

THE END

She's Madeline

In an old house in Paris that was covered with vines lived twelve little girls in two straight lines

In two straight lines they broke their bread and brushed their teeth and went to bed 

They smiled at the good and frowned at the bad and sometimes they were very sad

They left the house at half past nine in two straight lines in rain or shine — the smallest one was Madeline.

This week is book week, and today our primary school held it's annual book parade for the students. This year Paige decided she wanted to dress up as Madeline.

Rather than take a trip into town to buy some dark blue fabric for her costume, I picked up a single flat sheet at Kmart for around $10. The colour was perfect and I bought a white pillowcase for a couple of dollars extra to fashion the collar from. 

I used the Betsy dress PDF pattern by Ruby Jean's Closet on on Etsy, which I will use again for summer dresses as the warm weather approaches. I love that the pattern comes in a size 12m to 10 years so we should get plenty of use from it. 

The cape was made from a shortened - and slightly altered at the collar to attach the red tie - version of the Whimsy Couture PDF Vintage Cape pattern.

Cousin Riley enjoyed his first Book Week dress-ups

As per usual I left the sewing until the day before and spent a couple of hours setting up the patterns to use, cutting out fabric and stitching it all up. I was really pleased with the result, and the fit was nice and comfortable. We painted a straw hat yellow and added a black ribbon, some knee high white socks and black flats to finish off the outfit.

Cousins Emerson Supergirl did a lap with big sister Isabella as Belle

Then when it came time to do the laps with the rest of her class, Paige became all shy and upset and didn't want to walk. This is a bit of an ongoing thing at school, she's so timid there, which I totally do not get because at home she thinks she is top dog and is quite adept at bossing all the teenagers around. I'd like to find an out-of-school activity that she will participate in that might build her social confidence.

Little Stella came to watch the fun

Anyway, I convinced her to come aside from the parade beneath a shady tree for a few photos. She almost cracked a smile, but I did get a few happier pictures once we got home.

Poky Little Birthday

Our little Lucas Diego Cowboy is one. One whole year has whizzed by with lots of giggles, snuggles and broken sleep. I wish I could slow down these days, enjoy my last baby longer. At the same time, every little step he takes towards independence is so wonderful and exciting that we can't get enough.

Here he is up on all fours, and taste testing his birthday gift from our friends Chloe and Chelsea. He's just started holding his weight up rather than commando crawling, It might help his shirts last longer!

Yesterday we had some special friends over for afternoon tea and a small celebration. This afternoon we will have all the cousins over for another celebration. I'm much more relaxed about having two smaller shindigs than one large one, especially after Heath's cowboy party a few months back.

My extremely lovely and talented girlfriends created the most incredible Poky Little Puppy birthday cake which was so delicious and a real shame to cut into. We've kept the Puppy Tina created from fondant, and taken many photos of the cake (details to come) baked by Leah of Half Baked Tart as a gift to Lucas, one year after watching him come into the world as a labour support person for me.

The sun was shining and the company was lovely, I couldn't have asked for a better day. We love you so much, little one.

...and he ate up all the chocolate custard and crawled into bed as happy as a lark.

Has It Really Been This Long?

Well three years have passed by too quickly for my liking... It's brought ups and downs, mostly ups thankfully :) Another child, two that have reached adulthood and not as much creativity as I'd like. Too much to do with such a big family! I'd like to come back and use this blog to keep a record of daily family stuff so that we can all look back in days to follow and get the warm fuzzies going on.
So anyway, I will try to pop on as often as I remember with photos and stories from our home.

Meme...

I've been tagged in a meme by Rach from A Little Bit of Everything
Me me? Meh meh? Meh! I don't know, but here goes.

What is your current obsession?
Currently... still... strollers and prams. Baby gear. Fabrics, gadgets. I'd love an iPhone.

What is your weirdest obsession?
According to some it's the stroller thing ;)

What are you wearing today?
Paul's woolly jumper, trackydacks and thongs. Glamour all the way.

If you could change 1 thing about yourself, what would you change?
I need to be more motivated.

What did you eat for your last meal?
Vegemite on toast.

What’s the last thing you bought?
Some Michael Miller fabric for a liner order, and The Lost Boys DVD on Oztion.

What are you listening/watching right now?
ABC kids and the oven fan... Just baked a banana cake.

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?
Massage therapist.

Which language do you want to learn?
Auslan. Did a bit of signed English when Wade was a baby but forgotten a lot of it.

What do you love most about where you currently live?
It's pretty laid back around here.

What is your favourite colour?
Just one? Green.

What is your favourite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe?
Nothing right now. I need to have a wardrobe makeover, haven't treated myself in ages. If shoes count I live in Havaianas.

Describe your personal style?
What style!

If you had $300 now, what would you spend it on?
Rates.

What are you going to do after this?
Conquer Mount OMO

What are your favourite films?
Me Myself and Irene, Rocky Horror, Lost Boys, Life as a House, Goonies, Dirty Dancing... off the top of my head.

Your favourite books?
Stephen King.

Do you collect anything?
Fabric? It's more of a collection than a stash right now!

What makes you follow a blog?
A fun sense of humour, and inspiring craftiness.

What was the most enjoyable thing you did today?
Watched Heath's joy as he smooshed apple cereal into his hair.

What was the last thing you said to someone?
You can't eat banana cake from a cup.

What websites do you have to visit each day?
Strollers and Prams, Facebook and news.com.au

The rules:
1. Respond and rework; answer the questions on your blog, replace one question that you dislike with a question of your invention, add one more question of your own.
2. Tag eight other people.

Apples & Pears

Well, I finally cracked the sewing machine out again!

A couple of nights ago I came across this lovely old 1976 pattern which my friend Tina found, so decided to let the moths out of the Singer.

We used Alexander Henry fabric 'Apples and Pears'.

The original pattern had a couple of pockets but the fabric is already so busy that I didn't want to add anything to it. I might try another in a plain fabric and put a print fabric on the yoke and pockets. It also had gathering rather than the pleats, but I thought the pleats looked tidier.

It feels a little 'Partridge Family' don't you think?

Miss Paige had fun smooshing her feet into the mud, singing, and jumping in puddles whilst modeling for her Mama, at Ella's AFL game yesterday.

Pool Partay

I've been doing absolutely no sewing lately. I have knitted a few scarves for me, Paige, Mum... they've come in handy with the stinking chilly weather we're having lately.
Unfortunately I can only knit squares or rectangles as I've never looked into reading a knitting pattern. Therefore, scarves are my specialty.
I've got lots of sewing ideas so I really need time to just sit down at the machine and bring them to fruition.
Anyway, seeing as I don't have any creative piccies and I haven't posted anything in aaages I'm going to show ya's some pictures from my niece Isabella's pool party for her 8th birthday. There's the birthday girl herself, Heathie kicking back in his pram watching the festivities, Paige making sure no icing was left behind on those candles, and my other niece Bailey displaying how the birthday cake looks mid-chew.

Birthday Girl

Heathie and his sparkly eyes

It's okay guys, I've got this one

Very pretty, Bai!

Still Here!

Love this fabric!

I've been neglecting my little blog of late, just hanging around here reading all the other fabularse blogs of all the creative peoples over there -------------->
I haven't been sewing much the last couple of weeks, except for this lovely Hula Girls fabric liner for Beth's (Jess') new Maclaren stroller.
The top and bottom fold over like a pillowcase to stop it shifting around while it's in use. It's almost making me want another baby girl-child! Our little girl-child turned a big 4 last week and had herself a partay with all her little friends and all their beautiful pettiskirts. I'll have to annoy Tina for some photos since she is our resident photographer extraordinaire ;)
What else? Hmm. Wade's epilepsy seems to be under control way better, Ella has a boyfriend (shut up, Mum!), Jhye is obsessed with Club Penguin and Heath is still nuts about balls. And Daaaaaaaad.

Secret Squirrel

Well I've made a couple of things that I really like over the weekend, using some heavy denim and Ikea furnishing fabrics but it's for a handmade swap, kind of like a secret Santa, with some other Mummies and I don't want to post the items on here until the recipient receives them...
So this post is just a photo of Heath's cute little nappy bum with a Cute Tooshies on. This one needs a cover so we only really use it at home so we can watch his little dragon botty wiggling around the house. I wuvs it!
The delivery lady just arrived with some minkee and fold-over elastic, so shall give that a spin later on.

Handmade Swaps!

Now that my recipient has received her goodies I'm allowed to show them off here too.
One of the cushions I picked up at Ikea the other week became a pocket on this little pinny. I was pretty happy with how it came out, especially as a first go at this pattern. It's fully lined and in my favourite colours - green and orange.


I also made up this eco-bag in an evening using this tute. It was super-easy and the bag felt like it could withstand a bit of weight. It's another Ikea furnishing fabric. Might have to make a few more of these up.

Anyway, the best bit of this whole handmade swap thing was the postie bringing me a parcel too - it was so fun to have a surprise! Jakki organised the swap and I was lucky enough to have her be the one to make our loot, which was this gorgeous quilt for Heath. I can't stop looking at it! It's so soft and yummy and boyish and just the right size for him to snuggle on the lounge with when it's cool. The back is light blue minky dot. I need one too!