I blocked these squares all ready to sew up:

Unfortunately work took up the rest of the weekend, but at least I have this lovely stack to stare at until I get a chance to start sewing them together.

Ok, this didn’t exactly turn into the quick and easy project I was yearning for. Well, it wasn’t exactly difficult, but it was fiddly and time consuming. I think it’s turned out nicely though. The skirt is made of grey chambray.

Check out the adjustable waist!

I’m not sure what to start on next. With only 3 weeks until the end of term I think it might be time to try to wrap up a few unfinished projects. Then I can start fresh next term. I’m looking forward to it!

My Miss Zoe got a very special surprise in the post on Friday. Her friend Tina made her a stunning dress, and I did not have to ask twice if she’d put this one on. Pink enough? Oh yeah!

I took the kids into the city today to see performances at Federation Square as part of the Australian Dance Awards. I brought my camera to get a photo of Zoe in the dress. I don’t know know if it was all that dancing we’d been watching, but Zoe just would not stand still. See what I mean?

AHA – got her here, as she and her brother paused briefly to contemplate their next move.

Thanks Tina – the dress is a stunner and we love it!

OK…mental note to self…don’t judge a dress at 1am, especially a dress that has taken many hours to make (and unpick).  I woke up this morning and thought that maybe the dress wasn’t so bad, then I tried it on Zoe, and I realised that it was actually pretty cute.  And…drum roll please…Zoe loved it!  What a shame it was a size 2/3 (she’s nearly 5!).  Maybe – just maybe – I might be able to bring myself to make another one in her size.  Surely it couldn’t be so hard the second time.  Could it?

Here are pics:

Wow, what an overwhelming response to my giveaway! Thank you so much to everyone who left a comment – it has been so much fun reading them as they have come in over the last few days.

I just plugged some numbers into the Random.org random number generator….and the winning number is…..number 309!! That means Melissa and her comment “beautiful bib” is the winner Melissa I have your email address so I will contact you shortly to find where to send the bib to.

This is what I’ve been working on over the weekend. Let me just say – that never before have I made so many mistakes making the one garment. And that is really saying something, because I am very good at making mistakes when sewing. It was as if I was cursed. I cut the fabric the wrong way, sewed the pieces in the wrong order, sewed the seems too narrow, too wide, back to front, upside down, put the snaps in the wrong spot, broke the snaps, messed up the hem. Are you bored yet? Anyway, the dress is finished and of course now I’m harbouring a bit of resentment towards it. Time to move on. I have something easy in mind for tomorrow. Something very hard to mess up….

I am very pleased to be participating in the Sew Mama Sew May Giveaway Day If you’re visiting here from the Sew Mama Sew blog, then you’re probably skimming over the text looking for the prize (and you can skip this next bit and head straight for the photo below!). But for those who don’t know, Sew Mama Sew (that’s a blog) have organised a day when bloggers around the world offer a free prize to one of their lucky readers. The idea is that you surf the list of participating blogs, enter your name to try to win things, and enjoy a host of new blogs in the process.

Here is my offering:

Well, actually I’m just offering one of the bibs:

The bib has a towelling back and 3 snaps around the neck to cater for growing girls. Oh and it’s super gorgeous!

Competition details: Anyone from anywhere in the world can enter – all you have to do is leave a comment. Don’t spend too long thinking about what to say (does anybody else have this problem?) because I will pick the winner randomly on the 1st of June. Oh and make sure you leave me some way of finding you so that I can send you your prize.

Now…before you run off, I’m also doing a giveaway on my Earthgirl Fabrics blog. So, if you also want a chance to win this stunning bag :

then hotfoot it over to my other blog and leave another comment

(P.S. – if you don’t win the bib, but you really feel like you need one in your life – then you can buy one here).

I am finally making progress on this:

But couldn’t resist dumping it this week for something a bit more fun. This skirt is made from luscious soft European cord and was briefly for sale (now sold!). I have lots more cord (and velvet ) on the way and look forward to sewing with it.

Then I made this mock Flamenco skirt, also to sell, but Zoe fell in love with it and hasn’t taken it off. I was so excited that she liked something I made that wasn’t pink I had to let her keep it. We watched some You-tube Flamenco clips together and she is now quite the expert.

And of course with another birthday party today there was another cape to be made. I made this one out of a different fabric just to prove I’m not showing the same one over and over. No not really, I made it out of different fabric because I had already emptied the bolt of the other. We have another two parties tomorrow and then the fridge is clear of invites…for now.

My kids aren’t really that popular – it’s just that the kids in Zoe’s kinder class seem to all be having ‘all-class’ parties, and with 28 kids in the class, that’s a whole lot of parties…

I made Zoe a sparkly skirt last week.

It goes very well with her pink boa:

And her cape:

Of course she can only wear it when she’s not wearing this little number:

Or this one:

At least Zoe the magnet wears the dress ups I make her*, because Zoe the four year old still prefers the $2 Sparties dress (which I conveniently left out of the photo shoot).

Magnets inspired by the fabulously clever women over at Sugar City Journal.

*Sparkly pink skirt made by Kirsty (which easily gets the most miles!).

You know when you sew something, and you’ve got a great image in your mind of what it will look like, then something goes wrong, the image cracks and the project seems ruined beyond repair? No? Oh, well it happens to me a bit.

Take this dress for example. Late one night I was only a handful of seams away from finishing it, when I put the spotty fabric for the hem through the overlocker upside down. I couldn’t save the spotty material I had cut, and I didn’t want to have to go cut any more, then I lost faith in the spots all together, then the dress became ‘doomed’ and sat nearly finished for a good 4 weeks.

Thankfully a few days (or weeks) break can help revive the image and save projects from eternal doom. In this case, late some other night inspiration struck and I realised that what this dress needed was a ruffle (hey I told you everything was going to have a ruffle now that I have my special ruffling gadget). No kidding, 15 minutes later this dress was finished. And how good does it look?

Now I’m just sitting here waiting for inspiration to finish the other five or so projects currently classed as ‘doomed’.

(and by the way if you think this dress would look super hot on your 4 year old girl then you can buy it here).

Scenes from my lovely day:

Pressies for my lovely mum:

A card from my lovely Zoe:

My lovely people playing happily outside:

and some lovely pressies for me, the most special of which I have used to take the above photos.

We don’t normally make a big deal out of Mother’s Day in this house. I’m so glad today was an exception.