Having fun enjoying life!

Life has been very busy but enjoyable in the last few weeks.  The sewing machine is feeling a little neglected but our little family has been having a great time together.  The only sewing I've managed to do was to make another hat for Max - another lazy days hat by Make it Perfect.  Here he is trying to be cross with me but giggling instead while I took his photo. 

And here he is again posing for me! 

He's such a character and makes me smile and laugh all the time.  I can't believe he'll be going to school next year! 

We've had dress up days at school and kinder.  Max went as a Ninga (one of his favourite things at the moment!) and Samantha went as Felicity - from the books Felicity Wishes (as dress up day was the end of book week at school). 

Don't you just love dress ups!  I know I do and the kids have so much fun pretending to be some character and making up stories. 

We also had my mum's birthday last week so Max and I baked her a yummy chocolate cake and she and dad came over for a nice roast dinner to celebrate.  Birthdays are great fun!

Of course it was also father's day on Sunday - Happy Father's day to all the dad's out there!   I helped the kids make up a father's day booklet each, with photo's I'd printed out and questions for them to answer about their dad.  Some of their answer's were just gorgeous and it was very well received and loved when they gave it to him on Sunday.  We had a lovely father's day just being home together and kicking the ball around and enjoying the sunshine.  

We also picked up the first 4 poddy calves this weekend so we have been busy setting up the shed for them and now feeding them twice a day.  Samantha has taken a real interest in them this year and has been more hands on and not as afraid of them as she has been in the past.

So it has been a very busy few weeks - but a fun few weeks too.  The sewing machine is calling me and I am missing my sewing - so I do hope to get back to it very soon.  I will also be going to Melbourne for 'Urban Stitches' on the 18th of this month - so I am really looking forward to that.  It should be great fun.
Until next time - happy sewing everyone!
Jody   

Toadstool Pin Rests

It was Friday Night Sew In on Friday and so I cut out and started putting together a few of these cute Toadstool Pin Rests.  They are from Natalie Lymer's (Cinderberry Stitches) book 'Cotton Floss'.  This is a beautiful book with enchanting stitchery projects throughout.  I have made one of these pin rests before and I just love them, so I thought I'd make up a few more. 

Click HERE and pop over and see when the other participants of Friday Night Sew In have made.
Happy Sewing!
Jody

Party Turtles made by the kids!

I went to school yesterday and helped the Prep/Grade 1's made these cute tiny Party Turtles.  They were also helped by their Grade 6 Buddies - and they all worked really well together and did a fantastic job of making their turtles.  They had a great time and really enjoyed it.  Here are just two of the turtles they made. 

A big Thankyou to Jodie Carleton from Ric Rac for allowing me to use her Party Turtle design (a free pattern from her website).  I adapted it slightly and had everything pre-cut and with sewing holes punched in it so the kids could easily hand sew it together. 
Here's a photo of some of them holding their turtles.

I had heaps of fun helping the kids make these.  So thanks kids - I loved it!

Happy sewing!
Jody

Monday's Show & Tell

For Monday's Show & Tell I thought I'd show you another softie I finished over the weekend.  Here's Darcy the Dinosaur - who is another character I made from the new Melly & Me book 'Sewn Toy Tales'. 

I am loving this book, and you'll probably see more characters from it as I continue to sew my way through it! 
Pop over to Sandy's blog and see what others have to share for Monday's Show & Tell
Happy sewing!
Jody. 
 

FNSI results

Last night was Friday Night Sew In and this month I managed to finish off a softie toy.  Here is Pearl the Zebra. 

She is a Melly & Me design from their new book 'Sewn Toy Tales' which I just had to buy!  It's a gorgeous book filled with heaps of photos and 12 cute characters to make.  I also managed to cut out and prepare Darcy the Dinosaur - who is also another character from this book. 

Happy sewing!
Jody

Mini pancakes

The kids and I also did a little cooking yesterday and we made mini pancakes - or pikelets if you like.  Mmmm - yum...one of our favourites.  Normally they get eaten the minute the leave the frying pan - but for some reason I managed to finish cooking them all before anyone ate one - amazing!  So I just had to take a photo to prove it! 

Don't the kids look like they just want to gobble them all up!  Well - guess what - they did!  With a little butter and jam - or maple syrup - they were gone in a flash. 
This is the recipe I use for the mini pancakes - and it has been used over and over again - so I can definitely recommend it!
Mini Pancakes (Pikelets)
1 cup Self-Raising Flour
2 Tablespoons castor sugar
3/4  - 1 cup Milk
1 egg lightly beaten
30 g Butter  - melted

Sift flour and add sugar, egg, milk and butter and mix with a fork to form a smooth batter.  Add a little more milk if mixture is too thick. 
Place tablespoon fulls into the frying pan and cook over medium heat for approx 1 min until underside is golden brown, flip over and cook other side.
Serve spread with a little butter and jam or maple syrup if you like and enjoy!

Happy cooking! 
Jody

Crafts for Kids - Panda Felt Softie

Well the weather improved enough for the kids to get outside today, but then the wind picked up again - and they both came back in!  Oh well - luckily I had prepared some felt softies for them to make.  This Panda softie was inspired by the new Kung Fu Panda 2 movie.  It is a very basic shape for them to hand sew together - they both used wool and blunt embroidery needles. 

I had pre-cut the panda shapes and appiqued the details and also used a hand punch to make sewing holes in them.  The kids were then able to sew them up without much help from me and then stuffed them.  Now they had their very own Kung Fu Pandas!  I scanned the pattern I sketched up so if you would like to make your own just click HERE. 

Instructions to put them together are as follows:

Just cut out 2 complete bodies (including the ears) of the panda from white felt (or you could use black felt on the back - I just had a limited supply of black in my stash).

Then cut out the areas shaded in lines from black felt, and the shorts(shaded in spots) in red (or any other colour).  Note: The eyes are layered up - cut complete circles and panda eyes and layer the smaller ones on top.

Applique the shorts first on both the front and back bodies (I just sewed closely to the edge of all the felt shapes on my sewing machine to applique them on).  Then applique the feet, arms, ears, eyes & nose on to the front body.  I also appliqued black ears on the back body too.

Then using two strands of black embroidery thread, back stitch the mouth on.

I then put the two bodies together (wrong sides facing)  and held it together with a safety pin, and used a hand punch to put sewing holes in all around the body. 

The kids then used the blunt emroidery needles and wool to sew it up using a slip stitch.  Start from the bottom of one side of the panda.  

Once they have stitch all around and get back down the other side leave the bottom open and then they can stuff it with  polyester filling and then continue stitching to close the bottom.  

Now they can play and enjoy! 

Happy sewing!

Jody

Crafts for Kids - Craft Kits

I received this lovely parcel in the mail the other day with the Craft Kits I had ordered for the kids from Lisa from Eme Creations (thanks to Shez - who posted about it on her blog).  What a great idea these kits are - all pre-cut and ready for the kids to put together with a little glue and sticky tape.  It's a really windy and nasty day outside here today - so my daughter sat down this morning and put the Large Fairy Princess together. 

It was really easy for her to do all by herself.   A fantastic idea - and would be great for kids parties too.  They are really good value for money and definitely worth a look - just go to her Craftumi page HERE and have a look.  She put a special pack together for me with kits for both boys & girls which was great value - just email her to enquire further.  She aslo has a blog at  http://emecountrycreations.blogspot.com/ where she is having some giveaways too. 

We have also been to Melbourne last week with a trip to the Melbourne Aquarium.  Love the Aquarium - the kids had a ball.  My son kept dragging us from one thing to another - he was just so excited!  Here's a picture of them in a display of the great white sharks mouth - scary isn't it!

    Come back soon as I'll have another Craft for Kids post with some felt softies the kids will be making in the next couple of day.
Jody

Crafts for Kids - Paper Dolls

Yesterday I sketched out some paper dolls and clothing and then printed them off onto light weight cardboard.  The kids then sat down today and coloured them in and decorated them with sparkles and cut them out.  We then used Velcro stick on mini dots on the front of the dolls and back of the clothing so they could dress and undress the dolls as they liked.  A simple but fun activity for the kids - and I didn't have to help my daughter much at all - but had to cut out and help colour in my sons one (but then he is only 4!). 

A good indoor activity - as it is very windy here today and they haven't been able to get outside much at all.  If you would like to make some for your kids or grandkids - click HERE and you can get the file.  There are 4 pages  - a doll with the base (just cut the slits in each and put them together so the doll can stand up) and three pages of clothing, hair and shoes.  You can also make up different clothing for them of course - just let the kids design their own.  Print them out onto lightweight cardboard - or else print them onto paper and then glue onto cardboard so they can stand up on their own.  TIP: Put the stick on dots on the doll first - and then attach the velcro dot to that one (sticky side facing up) and then position the clothes and press down.  This will then make sure the dot sticks to the clothes in the right position.

Have fun! 
Jody 

Cooking & Crafts for Kids

I thought this school holidays I'd share some of the craft & cooking activities I do with the kids with you all.  Please feel free to use these recipes and ideas with your kids and grandkids too.  The next post I do will be Tuesday - so drop back then to see what we have been up to.
Today the kids and I made Cup Cakes.  They asked if they could do some cooking and this was what both the kids wanted to cook - so cup cakes it was! 

This is a really easy recipe as you just put all the ingredients in together and mix!  So great to do with the kids.  My daughter read out all the ingredients and we measured and then put them all together and both of them used the electric beater to mix it all up.  We then spooned it all into nice bright coloured paper patty cases, into the oven and it's done.  They then had a great time spreading on the icing and decorating with mini M&M's, sprinkles and silver cachous.  And of course - eating them was the best part!
Here's the recipe for you (the original recipe was from a kids cooking book)

Cup Cakes
Ingredients:
125g butter, melted
2 Eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
½ cup milk
1 cup caster sugar
1 ½ cups SR Flour
Method:
Mix all ingredients together & beat well. Place spoonfuls into paper patty cans. Bake in a hot oven for 10-15 minutes. Decorate with icing or sprinkles.

Enjoy!
Jody

Local Farmer's Market....

I love going to our local Farmer's Market and buying all the fresh local produce.  It's on once a month and I took the kids along this morning and we picked up some lovely fresh fruit and vegies. 

We also bought some yummy yo-yo biscuits and had a sausage in bread and I had coffee while we were there.  The sun was shining and it was a lovely morning out.  A great start to the school holidays.  We've got alot planned these holiday - visiting Melbourne, sleepovers for the kids at their grandparents, going to the movies and catching up with friends.  I also plan to do some craft projects with the kids and they're also going to help me get a craft project ready for the Prep/Grade 1's for when Term 3 goes back.  So it should be a fun school holiday break.  What are you up to for school holidays?

Friday Night Sew In Results

I managed to sit down and get some work done on my Woodland Faeries stitchery project last night.  I have almost finished one faerie and I have 4 more to go.  They are very sweet aren't they!  I love the detail on their dresses. 

My daughter loves faeries so shhh, don't tell her, but this will have fabric boarders around it and then be put onto a canvas and hung on her wall.  I have used one of the faeries from this pattern before for her reader cover.  It is a free pattern by Natalie Lymer of Cinderberry Stitches and you can get it from HERE.  Speaking of free patterns,Bronwyn Hayes from Red Brolly has just put a free pattern for a Three Bears Toy Bag on her website.  Just click HERE to get there.  It has a stitchery for Goldilocks and the Three Bears on a lovely sized bag to put your kids or grandkids toys in or you can use it as a Library Bag, Nappy Bag or kids craft bag.  
Have a look as see what the other Friday Night Sew In participants have been up to.  Just click on this link HERE.
Happy Sewing everyone!
Jody

Some insight into the creative process...

YES!  Have just managed to finally get part of my softie to work!  Sometimes the design process can be challenging and frustrating and then all of a sudden it all comes together.  I have been working on a design for the last 3 days and after several failed attempts I have finally overcome that hurdle and it now looks exactly the way I wanted it too!  So I thought I'd share this with you as I am just so excited that it has finally come together.  The trick this time was to leave it alone and concentrate of something else for 24 hours before I attempted looking at it again.  With softies I have found that sometimes what you draw on paper is hard to turn into a 3D stuffed object.  There are a number of things to consider and sometimes the stuffing process can change the shape to something you weren't expecting.  I normally have an idea of the finished product in my head and then I sketch out what I want it to look like.  I then draw the pattern and then start cutting out fabric and sewing it together - making changes as I go.  Sometimes these softies evolve over 3 or 4 fully completed softies until I am 100% happy and sometimes they come together the first time .  This one has taken several of these attempts but now I am finally happy!  Now on to writing the pattern!   Hope you don't mind me sharing my creative process with you!

 
Also it's Friday Night Sew In this Friday so click on this link HERE to sign up!  It's a fun way to work on some of your unfinished projects knowing that there are quite a few of us sitting down at the same time and working on our projects too!  So come on join in! 
Happy sewing everyone!
Jody

Christmas Club Update

Sign ups for the Cookies & Cream Craft Christmas Club are ending soon.  You've only got until the 15th of June to sign up so Sandy can get numbers organised and have the first patterns out to participants by the beginning of July.  So just to entice you a little more here is another sneak peak of part of my design I'm doing for this Club.

Interested?  Click HERE to read more and sign up.
Happy sewing,
Jody 

Just Hanging out and having fun sewing..

characters like this!

Cheeky monkey - isn't he!  Check out Monday's Show & Tell to see what other's have been up to!
Happy sewing!
Jody