Brmmm, Brmmm!

First, you must know that my husband was mortified to hear I stopped my car to pick up something off the side of the road yesterday...

But I had a vision...

...of a stroller for our 2 year old nephew.

I see the little boys at Playgroup each week, pushing pink and purple doll strollers around, so I knew he would love it, especially if it had cars on it.

Happy Australia Day!

As we do every year, we celebrated by eating Lamingtons;

My little assistant had a brilliant idea;

Which looked great on the plate...

...but were very messy to eat (Which was half the fun of it!)

These were last year's creations;

Raspberry Lamingtons (Don't they look TOXIC?!?!)

We also enjoyed a nice lunch, with my favourite salad ever;

Sweet Potato, Tomatos, Goats Cheese, Basil, Rocket, Cous Cous.

I wondered why I had a headache at the end of the day....

Too many good things to eat?

No. I just forgot I had these on my head for most of the day;

Kids Craft 'Workshop'

The first thing my girls do in the morning, is run to their 'workshop', as they call it. It's simply two little red Ikea tables with some old timber chairs that play host to their crafting extravaganzas each day. I like to keep paper, good quality markers, crayons and pencils at their fingertips for whenever inspiration may strike;

Last night, I decided to make them each a little pouch (as you can see above) to hang on the back of their chairs. I remember having one as a small child at school and I thought these could hold all the excess creations the girls make, that don't get hung up around the house or put on the fridge. In theory, they can keep their space tidy and at the end of the day there might be a nice little collection of artwork for me to put in their scrapbooks - instead of it littering the floor throughout the entire house!

Also, I like the idea of leaving little surprises in their pouches (on special occassions, when they've been extra good... or just because), although Livvie was most disappointed this morning to discover the surprise was not M&M's as she had hoped, but a packet of new pencils instead.

(I told her she might have more luck on the chocolate front, if she sleeps in her own bed for an entire night, instead of somehow ending up tucked in-between us in the early hours of the morning. It's true, she never even wakes us as she gets into our bed, but she's there every morning and I often have a 'dead arm' from having not been able to turn over in the night. So subconsciously, I must be accommodating her and thus have quite an uncomfortable sleep each night.... The cheeky monkey!)

Elly still thinks her name starts with an 'A' (she thinks every letter is an A), so she pointed to her pouch, proudly announced 'A!' and sat down on her chair;

I must take some pics of their drawings, but here are some paintings they did last week;

That's not a chicken, that's me apparently!

Monsters;

Elly might not even be two yet, but she fills up her page with so much colour every time.

Frogs;

Toast wearing a hat?

'No, it's a house, Mum!'

I love them all. Every parent surely does.

And I'm keeping every single one (more on this later...)

Pillowcase Dresses

I have been meaning to make some of these Pillowcase Dresses for SO long. Today I finally did, thanks to Nick taking the girls to their grandparent's house for two hours! Released from my ball & chain (joking!), I sat down and quickly got to work...

...Livvie in hers,

And Elly's on the hanger...

These are so easy to make. Although I didn't use a tutorial (I just traced some of the girls dresses from their wardrobe), here is a great Pillowcase Dress Tutorial from Refashion.

I also LOVE Refashion's Sarong Dress Tutorial and will definitely be making some of these for myself before we head up north for a little holiday next month. I never make anything for myself, but with about 3 dresses to my name, I would have to say these are a necessity! Unlike my girls who have countless skirts and numerous dresses;

This is just one part of one wardrobe. Ridiculous, I know.

[I secretly dream of these becoming a quilt one day]

Dolls Quilt

I made it one of my New Years resolutions to try Quilting. It's something I have always wanted to do and it was one of the main reasons I first wanted to learn to sew. Apart from sewing dresses for my girls, I have always loved the idea that one day I may actually be able to cut out, piece together, quilt and bind (have I missed anything?) some beautiful quilts for my girls beds.

Well, I did a practise piece - using the fantastic Doll Quilt Sew-Along Tutorials at Sew, Mama, Sew and am pleased to say that although it is far from perfect, I have made my first (very small) quilt!

The back;

I didn't worry too much about colour scheme... I just used what was in my stash - but I am happy with the overall result. Not because of how it looks, but because I did it - I made a quilt! Just a small one, but I completed all the steps and even hand-stitched the binding. However, one thing I am quite sure of, is that next time I will definitely not be doing any Free Motion Quilting, as I did with this one (rather pathetically!). I watched a quick tutorial and jumped straight in and... it is much harder than it looks!

But it feels lovely and I wish it were a bit bigger. Time to try a little lap quilt I think...

[I am trying not to be deterred by my woeful first attempt, as the only way to get better at this is by practising. I have managed to sew quite a few things this year already, as my mantra - for everything - is 'Just Get Started On It'. It's amazing what can be achieved once you take that first step. It's all too easy to put things off for another day - cleaning out cupboards, filing paperwork, studying - but such a great feeling to actually complete something!]