Sprouting Spuds.....

With messy play a huge favourite of Miss Connie's, my now 3yr old, I decided to make her an Art Smock just for these occasions... (front view)

This was super easy and if you'd like to make one too I've drafted the pattern up for download as a PDF.... This pattern will make up a child's size 2-3.There are 4 pattern piece's to this smock:

bib-a & bib-b and arm-a & arm-b

(back view closed)
Once you've printed out the pattern pieces on A4 paper join bib-a to bib-b and arm-a to arm-b along the dotted lines. Cut out your fabric as stated on the pattern pieces...

(back view open)
Sew up the arm seams using 1/4' seam, I used my over-locker here for a nice neat finish. Next sew the arm to the bib, right sides facing.... Now using some bias tape (I made my own in a contrasting colour) sew it around the bib to enclose all the raw edges. When sewing the bias tape to the neck opening I like to leave a good 6' tail at both ends to use as ties but you could just as easily attack a button here if you don't want a tie...

I like to add some elastic to the bottom of the sleeves to help keep them down but you could just simply hem them if you'd prefer not to use elastic...

If you have any questions about making this smock feel free to email me and I'll try my best to help you out... *^_^*

On the garden front I've been blessed with some yummy delicious potatoes this week.....

A couple of months back some Sebago and Pontiac spuds started sprouting in my pantry so instead of giving them to the chooks I decided to dig a hole out the back and plant them... To my surprise this is the second little harvest I've had from my sprouting spuds and I still have 3 plants yet to be harvested... They are the sweetest, most tender little gems I've ever tasted... I just slice them thinly and fry them in olive oil with some freshly chopped garlic and cracked pepper.... DELICIOUS!!!!

What's something new you're growing in your garden this year???

Take Care :)

Shirred Dresses..............

With the weather warming up here I decided to whip the girls up a couple of shirred dresses...I love shirring and to make things even better, it's so super easy!!!!!!!! For these little dresses I measured around my girls chest's, then multiplied that measurement by 2... For the length I just roughly ran a tape down their side to where I thought they might look cute and added an inch for hems....I made a tube out of this fabric and then hemmed the top... For the shirring I simply sewed around the tube using shirring elastic as bobbin thread (make sure you wind this on by hand as the machine will tension it for you as you sew) and cotton thread for the top.. I like to leave 1/4 inch gaps between each row of shirring, I also leave 1/4 inch from the top before starting my first row of shirring. For Millie's dress in the first 2 pic's I did 6 rows of shirring and for Connie's in the last 2 pics I did 10.... I added 2 straps and some cute trim to the bottom to finish the dresses off and after no more than 2 hours of solid craft time I'm pretty happy with my end result, gotta love that!!!! *^_^*

Take Care :)

Hummus....

My sister always makes the most delicious fresh Hummus.... She was kind enough to share the recipe with me and now I in turn am passing it on to you....

Ab-Ab's Hummus

2 cups of canned chickpeas, 1/2 cup of yogurt, 2T tahini, 2T lemon juice, 1/8t ground cumin, 1 clove of garlic crushed, cracked pepper, 1t olive oil.

Place chickpeas and yogurt in a food processor and blend until just combined. Add tahini, lemon juice, cumin, garlic and black pepper and blend again to form a smooth paste. Now drizzle in the olive oil and process for 30 seconds. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days and enjoy at regular intervals throughout the day (like I do... hehehe) with your favourite crackers and sliced veggies.....

I've also found that both my girls (3yrs and 8mths) love this dip too which is a bonus. It's a great source of Protein, Calcium and Iron just to name a few... A Yum-mo recipe and a definite staple in my trusty home cook-book from now on.....

What's your favourite dip recipe???

Take Care :)

Travel Pillow Tutorial....

Seen as though we spend quite a lot of time in the car to-ing and fro-ing I thought it was about time I made Miss Connie a Travel Pillow. Hopefully this should make sleep time in an uncomfortable position (sitting up) that little bit more bearable....

To make your own, print out my free downloadable Travel Pillow Template.....

Cut the template out twice on the fold... I used 2 contrasting fabrics for Connie's pillow, purple flannel with cows for the top and plush purple polar fleece for the underside....

With right sides of fabric facing, sew together using a 1/4' seam... Leave an opening of approx 2' on the inside neck seam, fill with your favourite stuffing, I've used fibre fill here but am also thinking of trying one using wheat so that it can be used as a heat pack as well... Sew up your opening and you're done...I added a little tag (you can just see it on the left in the pic above) so that I can hang it up in the car while it's not in use....

Unfortunately the model was a little reluctant to pose this morning during the photo shoot... LOL!! I'm hoping you still get the gist of the u-shaped pillow idea....

Take Care :)

Night Out...

Night's Out these days aren't really like they used to be..... Once upon a time I used to hit the local pub with a few friends and was sure to pull an 'all night-er'. Long gone are those days, thank goodness.... LOL!!!

On Tuesday I had a 'Night Out' with the girls... We packed our bags and headed 150 km's to the other side of town for a sleep over with my girlfriend Hayley, her sister and her niece....

We had a great time, drank some beautiful wine, ate way too much delicious food and laughed just load enough to feel a little saw in the morning..

The girls had a ball, with yabbying at the top of their 'most fun' list......

(Connie with my girlfriend Hayley)

We had the mobile daycare out for the morning which Connie always enjoys...

She loves when these ladies come to visit and was so thrilled when they showed up at Hayley's farm for a change....

What do you do for a night out??? Can you even remember the last time you let your hair down??? LOL!!!

Take Care :)

Not Every Day....

Now it's not every day that someone just gives you a house now is it???? Well a little while ago a close family friend did just this, gave Brad and I a great old shack....

As it turns out it was one of the original homesteads off the farm next door. It was moved to town in the 60's.... We were so thrilled to be given this house and couldn't wait to get it out to 'Darling Downs'... So while Connie, Millie and I watched Brad started to prep the house...

Following strict instructions from the house removal company he got to work cutting the house in half with a chainsaw...... Yes that's right, a chainsaw, I nearly fainted when they told him to do it this way but hey who am I too talk they're the professionals after all, right???? So now the house sits in 2 awaiting the big truck to haul it out to our farm... Fingers crossed the whole process goes well.... What's been going on in your world of late??

Take Care :)

Still Hot.....

While the needles were still hot I cast another singlet on for Little Millie.... This one is done in plain rib and is a tad bit narrower than the yellow one from a couple of posts back... It fits nice and snug and would be just perfect under clothing in the cooler months.... Hang on, it looks pretty darn cute on it's own with some bloomers too so I guess you could say it's an 'all seasons singlet'.... *^_^* Thanks for all of the lovely comments on the lacy singlet, I'm almost finished the PDF pattern and will post it as soon as I am... I was thinking of doing this ribbed one up as a PDF also, what do you think???

Here's hoping you're having a lovely start to your week...

Take Care :)

Swap Sign-Up....

SIGN-UP'S ARE NOW CLOSED.....

For those of you who might be interested, it's sign-up time for Round 2 of my little Washcloth Swap.... With Spring fast approaching, I thought that a washcloth/seed swap would be a fun idea this time 'round....

So for this swap you'll have 4 weeks (same as last time) to create a washcloth for a 'secret' partner..... You can either knit, crochet or sew your washcloth, the choice is yours..... We had a variety of all 3 crafts in the last swap which made for some great looking cloths...

For the seed part of the swap, you will gift to your partner some seeds for their up and coming Spring garden, 1 packet will be amply... They can be seeds you've saved yourself or one's bought from the store, it really doesn't matter as long as they grow.... ;)

Once sign-ups are closed and numbers are finalised an email will go out to everybody containing a little questionnaire and guidelines for this swap..... So to sign-up for Round 2 of the Washcloth Swap just leave a comment on this post.....

Take Care..... :)

Summer Singlet.....

I've been trying to design a knitted singlet pattern for Little Millie over the past couple of nights... After casting off this morning and adding a few finishng touches I think I might finally have it mastered....

It fastens at the back with a button on the left side, is made using 8ply cotton and 4mm needles and only used 3/4 of a 50gram ball to make up so you can just imagine how super quick it was/is.... :)
The size is approx 6-12 month and if I had of made it a tad longer, and used up the rest of the ball, I'm sure it would fit right up until 24 months as the lace pattern has a heap of give in it....
I have another one on the needles, minus the lace work, as I type this, the perfect additions for Little Millie's Summer wardrobe....

I was thinking of doing the pattern up as a pdf, would anybody be interested???

Take Care.... :)

Rustic Bowl....

I've been working on something for a very special blogger over the past couple of nights.... She's a bit of a bowl fanatic and now after a lot of trial and error I think I've created 2 rustic little bowls to add to her collection..... You see the special blogger in question sent me a package about a month back. This is my way of saying thank you for her trouble.... So if you're a bowl fanatic and you've sent me something in the post recently, keep your eyes on the mail as something special is headed your way... *grin*....While I was at a clearing sale on the weekend a lovely lady asked if Little Millie and I would like our picture taken.... Here's what she took....I'm usually the one behind the camera, very rarely in front of it... LOL!!! So it was a nice change to have my pic taken with one of my little angels....

Take Care :)

Setting Goals....

This coming Spring/Summer I've decided that I'm going to try and make as many of the clothes needed as I possibly can for Miss Connie (3), Little Millie (8 mths), and Myself (28).....

I set a goal to make for my girls over the cooler months and managed to do this for 75% of their wardrobe... With the warmer months being much easier, as you need less clothing, I'm hoping to do better this time round....... :)

Last night saw me up late sewing some little shoes for Millie. There are lots of great tutorials out there for shoes similar to these little cuties and after reading through a few of them I decided to make up my own version that are reversible.... The pair above are made out of flannel and the 2 pairs below are 100% cotton with the pair at the front being lined with flannel....Little Millie wore the cotton pair lined with flannel all day today and they didn't fall off once, what a bonus!!! We had a really great relaxing weekend outside tinkering around in the garden (you can read about it here on my new garden blog).... Here's hoping you had a fantastic weekend also....

Take Care... ;)