Normally I collect and dry calendula flowers so I can use them to make my own hand balm. But then this flower opened and I decided these ones need to become seed so I can always grow this particular one.
And then the next one opened on a rainy day and it was even prettier, especially with all the rain droplets!
One of the first things we packed into a storage shed in preparation for our move was the Christmas decorations. There is no chance we're pulling everything out to get to it so our house is not very Christmassy this year - I'll make up for that next year!
Luckily I hadn't packed up all of my fabric until recently so I was able to pull out the Christmas bunting panel which I bought in the boxing day sales last Christmas.
It was actually quite fun to make, repetitive but nice and easy. I might even make a birthday one for our daughter! It would have been easier to use premade bias binding but I didn't think to get that out of the shed. Strips of a newly purchased mistletoe Christmas fabric (it's all on sale already!) worked well enough... but I now have more fabric to pack!
I actually bought a few of their cheap Christmas fabrics to do Furoshiki for our daughters gifts in the future. We'll see how I go with learning the folding technique and I might start doing it for everyone's gifts. I'll keep you updated, I'm not quite sure what sizes would be best to make, or how they wrap large gifts. Perhaps we'll hide any that are too big for the fabric wrap and do a treasure hunt for them instead!
It seems like all the bugs like sunflowers, not only the pollinators loving the flowers, but also whichever critters enjoy eating them as seedlings. Needless to say I was very happy that these two have bloomed - and one of them has lots of extra flowers on it's stalk.
Since photos weren't showing all the cute little native bees I thought I'd try sharing a video.
Now that the seeds have formed, the rosellas have been enjoying the free feed, although I bet they wish the dog would stop noticing them!
I'm cutting it close with Christmas this year, I finally finished my daughter's Christmas dress, once it is washed we can get her Christmas photos done!
Arrowroot does best in the ground, but I needed to pot some up so I could take it with us when we move. I dug up a small tuber so it doesn't overtake the pot and decided to create a self watering pot in a bucket (buckets have handles so it's easier to carry). Now it's a bit boring having just one little stick of arrowroot in a bucket so I added a comfrey and strawberry.
I have to say this little guild is perfect and they have grown so fast! These three plants all prefer to stay out of the full afternoon sun, and they enjoy the more consistent moisture of the self watering pot. I did buy a fresh bag of potting mix for this one as comfrey pulls up all the nutrients. Since I've been cutting the comfrey to feed the chickens and add to any plants that need a boost, I will have to start feeding this pot regularly.
They say once you plant comfrey you'll never get rid of it... unfortunately mine disappeared when Ray helped me weed. After months of searching I was very lucky to find this single plant for sale. The lady at the nursery told me they finally filled all their special orders and only had one extra - it was waiting for me! Hopefully I can propagate it soon so I can have a backup - I'm not letting this plant die!!
I've been going through my photos and found a little romper and skirt that I made using the Isabella Mini fabric from Frankie Bear.
This skirt is another one from Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom - I've shared the Sunflower and the Galaxy skirts I've made in the past. The only change for this one was that I made it a bit shorter since it was a gift for a toddler and I feel the other ones I've made are quite long.
Our pumpkin vine decided to keep growing through winter, so I left it to do its thing. Once the weather started warming up for spring this plant took off and is already doing better than last year. I got maybe 5 pumpkins last year as it struggled along then a couple more took forever to ripen over winter.
But now, there are at least twenty fruits and new flowers every day. We'll be eating pumpkins everyday if it continues growing like this.
Can you see the little yellow ladybug - I've been told they help with the powdery mildew, which explains why they're always on my pumpkin and zucchini plants!
We really like our big pram but it takes up our whole boot so we got a little stroller for the car. New pram means we need a new pram liner!
The pattern is from Muffy Duck Designs which is the same company I got the pattern for my other pram from.
This one I made double sided using blue gingham and my special panda fabric from Frankie Bear. I also added velcro to the strap covers so they don't fall off all the time.
It was even easier the second time - mostly because I knew it wasn't anywhere near as difficult as I originally thought it would be.
My garden is beautiful at the moment, there are so many flowers in our area that the bees seem to be visiting only their favourites and ignoring everything else. Luckily there are lots of other bugs pollinating the other plants.
I never see the bees on these so I brought some inside and attempted a flower arrangement.
There are going to be a bigger variety of cut flowers in my future garden, and more attempts at flower arranging!
In this post I mentioned that it was the second time I had made an Amsterdam Baby for my daughter. This one is my first version, but a romper with an extra fancy lace overskirt.
Since it was my first time sewing with lace I had to figure out how to finish the seams and the hem. I opted to do a bias binding hem and did a small, close zig zag over the side seams, then trimmed.
This romper was made for our wedding anniversary, we decided to head back to the Japanese gardens where we got married and got an updated photo since we're a family of three now! For our wedding I wore a red and black dress so decided that our daughter could wear something similar and I'm really happy with how it turned out and as an added bonus, bold colours really suit her.
As for the snaps on the bottom of the romper I got a whole kit from Amazon, I never have to make button holes anymore!
My orchids are very happy at the moment, even after an unusually wet winter! I've got 6 in flower at the currently and I've noticed a flower spike forming on another plant. Whenever I put in a lot of effort to care for them, I end up killing them, so now I leave them under the mango tree and they are so much happier! Other than the keikis (baby orchids), I only occasionally water and add slow release fertiliser.
I love this Rainbow Ink Blot fabric from Frankie Bear! I've been hoarding this for awhile and I'll definitely need more of this one!
This dress was made for my daughter to wear to a party to celebrate her Great Grandfather, if he were here today I think he would very much approve of this bright and beautiful dress!
This is the Amsterdam Baby from Little Lizard King and it is the second time I've made this dress - I should find a photo of the first one to share with you.
My only issue with this one (apart from catching the gathers when I attached the waist to the bodice) is lining up the straps and loop nicely. My solution for this was to use the knot button on my sewing machine before and after the strap so I could unpick that section. Then used the stitch holes to line up the strap properly and restitch the straps in place.
I opted for the size 3 rather than the size 2 as it is a bit hard to get her arms into dresses with elastic backs. I'm hoping as she gets older she'll continue to get less upset about clothing that goes over her head - as a newborn she would cry every time, thankfully now it's just if we take too long.
The purple felt watch I originally made doesn't match many of our daughter's clothes so I wanted to make more, but it needs to be something that doesn't get yucky like the felt. I didn't want to spend forever sewing and turning little bits of fabric so instead I spent forever designing a stitchable watch face to 3D print!
I made a simple band out of fabric (3" wide x 8"long and interfacing if needed) that I folded both ends in 1/2". Then I folded 1/2" from each long edge, then again to meet in the middle. Then I played with the decorative stitches to hold down the centre seam and along both sides.
Next I stitched on the watch face - to make it extra secure since I'm concerned about it being a choking hazard - I did once around the large circle, went crazy tying a huge knot, then went back to cover the gaps before tying and other huge knot and repeating on the smaller circle.
Then simply add a snap or two to fit your child!
I've added this to Thingiverse if you would like to print your own - recommended for children over 3 years as it is a choking hazard.
I've been working on another pot guild, this time with a panama berry. From my research this tree can withstand a lot of different conditions and still do well so I picked cucamleon to be what I focus on in this pot. The cucamelon should be happy as the panama berry has shot up nice and tall after a harsh trim of the main trunk.
I transplanted a dandelion I dug out of the lawn just as an experiment and it's doubled in size already - generally plants like this with a taproot don't transplant well. Now I know I can move them around the yard to wherever they might be a benefit.
At the back is a viola in there that volunteered in my garden, they transplant and self seed so easily. Next to that I popped in a calendula seedling which will shade the viola from the afternoon sun.
At the front is a tomato that must have hitchhiked with the compost - I'll let it grow a bit more until I transplant that somewhere else as it will just get too big. Once the tomato is moved I'll add some clover and possibly some oregano.
I decided to make a busy board for my daughter, only I really don't feel like going shopping so I've used the 3D printer to get started!
I'm glad I'm doing it this way because I can choose the colours - I'm printing another part for it at the moment using glow in the dark filament, I'm rather excited to see how well it glows tonight.
Some wonderful people have uploaded things like the gears that are meant for busy boards but there a plenty of hinges and latches (and the percussion frog in the top left) that are great as well.
I've got a Busy Board Collection if you want to 3D print your own busy board.
I was just going to let my daughter scribble all over a blank card for my husbands birthday but then I found this cute giraffe cut out from a previous project and this was the end result...
It turned out pretty cute and most importantly the baby had loads of fun playing with crayons and markers!
We have smart watches and noticed our daughter would hold out her arm the same way we do when we hear our watch notification! It is super cute so I made her a little felt watch and taught her to to look at her left arm instead of mirroring us.
This was just a quick, easy, one off project so I didn't take step by step photos but I'll explain the process and add a very simple printable template.
(The band on this template is 6" long so if you want it larger just increase your print size.)
I forgot how tall snap peas grow, luckily they've bounced back after adding a chicken wire extension. They were kind of supporting each other until we had yet another windy, rainy winter day.
I've learnt a few things about snap peas that I need to remember next time I plant them:
I've been wanting to make a lovey for my daughter for ages but have only just got around to it. I had the idea that if she loved it I would make extras in case she ever lost it but I really did not enjoy sewing with minky!!
It turned out cute, despite all my mistakes and my daughter likes it. I don't think she'll be too upset if she loses it, so thankfully I don't need to sew any more of them.
So while I'm not too proud of my sewing skills on this project, I am proud that I finished it. The minky is lovely and soft so I can understand the appeal but I'll be taking a break from that fabric for awhile!
The pattern is from Pink Pug Designs, the instructions are great and she is an Australian designer so it's nice to support a fellow Aussie. I couldn't find wool felt for the nose so I just used black minky in the same way as the eye and tail patches. I did add a ribbon tag so I can strap it to the pram so it's doesn't get dropped and lost - we've had a bike rider catch up to us with a toy we dropped once!
I made these winter bonnets for my nieces and nephews for Christmas in July. It was fun making something warm for them to wear, none of them are winter babies.
This pattern is the Blizzard Bonnet, a lovely free pattern from Wholecloth Patterns. It's was a quick and easy project, would be great for a beginner!
I used the Medusa fabric that I used for my daughter's matching jellyfish romper and booties. Because it is a directional fabric I cut two pieces with an added 1/2" to the the top instead of cutting on the fold. Then stitched together with a 1/2" seam allowance, pressed and followed the pattern instructions.
Since I've finally gifted this skirt I can share it with you, not that it matters since my niece doesn't know I have a blog!
It's the same pattern from Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom which I used for the galaxy skirts. The fabric is 145cm (57") wide so I just used that for the width, the total width needed for size 16 was 55", so I only needed to do the one seam. I kept the extra 2" as I used button hole elastic again so my niece can wear it now, tightening the elastic will just mean extra gathers and it can be loosened through a couple of growth spurts!
The matching scrunchies are a tutorial from See Kate Sew. My elastic has a lot of stretch to it so I cut them an inch shorter, but I probably should have used even less - or just buy some better quality elastic!
Exciting changes are ahead for our little family, we have decided that we're going to sell our house and buy acreage! I've been learning about permaculture and at the same time trying to decide which plants in my current garden are staying and which I want to take with me. I would love to have lots of fruit trees so I've been researching fruit tree guilds and food forests, rather than traditional orchards.
We're celebrating Christmas this weekend with my side of the family, it should be much nicer than having it in the summer heat! I finished my nieces and nephews presents and since I had fabric leftover I decided to make our daughter a matching outfit.
This Overall Playsuit seems to be my go to pattern, mostly because it's quick and she can crawl and walk in it easier than dresses. To see what changes I make to this pattern, see this post.
And of course it's cold so I made her another pair of Maggie's Stay On Booties, only this time I lined them with fleece.
Hopefully the kids all like this cool jellyfish fabric from Frankie Bear Fabric!
I completely forgot that I made reusable spiral party decorations for our daughter's first birthday party. Hopefully I remember to use them at her next party!
Now I know you can buy these in many different colours, but they're so thin and I was aiming to have as many reusable items as I could so I designed these for 3D printing in 4 different sizes.
If you would like to print your own party decorations I have uploaded the files to Thingiverse.
For some reason I decided that it would be a great idea to make our daughter a romper with matching booties. Each piece is great on their own, but unfortunately it's just too much together! I think I'll make a pair of solid white booties next time.
I used a lovely Victoria woven cotton from Frankie Bear Fabric. The pattern is Maggie's Stay on Booties again with the non slip fabric for the soles.
When setting up the nursery for our baby we chose cabinets from Ikea - the Platsa range meant we could add a wardrobe and some glass door cabinets to display books, handmade blankets and of course all my old pandas! But I wanted to have all those cute baby clothes out on display so I made a simple clothes rail that uses the existing holes and therefore be removed without any damage!
The hardest part was drilling the holes in the correct place! These cabinets are designed with threaded holes in the base so they can be stacked and attached using a supplied screw. I simply cut pieces of pine then drilled holes to line up with those threaded holes, and used the supplied screws since my timber was the same thickness.
Them simply screw on the brackets and thread the rod through. The clothes rail and brackets were from Bunnings, normally used for shower curtains.
Links if you're having trouble finding them - bracket end, bracket centre and rod - they come in white and chrome as well as 19mm or 25mm!
Now I just need to painte the pine white and align the door hinges!!
I love the Bellevue Baby Romper pattern from Little Lizard King, well the first time I made it I didn't, I found it difficult and it took me forever. These days I don't have so much trouble, I assume it's because I was a new mum running on very little sleep!
Both times I made it were using poplin from Spotlight and I can't decide which one is my favourite!
I love this galaxy fabric from Frankie Bear Fabric, she's almost outgrown her romper so I'll have to make her a new galaxy outfit.
These are Maggie's Stay on Booties, I bought the whole set so eventually I'll make some for myself! I made a few pairs with cotton lining instead of fleece since it doesn't get cold here in Autumn, now that we're in winter I put socks on with them, eventually I'll make the next size up with fleece lining.
I will say I put off sewing these for awhile as it just seemed like it would be difficult but they're actually easy to sew, and quite quick!
I used non slip fabric for the soles since my daughter has started walking.
I made her a matching bonnet using the free winter bonnet pattern, also with cotton lining. Now that it's winter I'll make her a fleece lined one.
I found this cute little pig colouring page and put the graphic on a tshirt for my dad, he told us he wanted a pig so now it's a theme for all of his gifts - I don't think he'll ever tell me what he likes again!
This is an easy project if you have a Silhouette to cut the stencil for you, otherwise you can use a craft knife to cut it by hand. I use contact/vinyl adhesive used for covering school books and fabric paint that I sponge on. Once it's dry I peel off the stencil and depending on which paint I used, either iron it or just leave it to dry flat for the required time before washing.
We were given the Uppababy Vista V2 pram when we were pregnant which came with a bassinet for newborns. I used a bassinet sheet in that but we ordered a custom pram liner for the seat since I knew I wouldn't have time to make one before she outgrew the bassinet.
She is 10 months old now and I finally made my own for her pram!
I used this pattern from Muffy Duck Designs and it turned out great and really didn't take that long! Since I'm running out of room to store new fabric I decided to make use of this fabric I bought at Ikea many years ago. If I had used quilting cotton it would have been much easier to sew but I got there in the end. I was rather nervous about making all the button holes from scratch but they all turned out fine and no slips with the seam ripper. I actually really like this fabric as a pram liner!
We just got the Uppababy Minu stroller since our pram takes up our whole boot so I'll make a liner for it too, in the meantime the Vista liner works.
Back when I did lots of pyrography I made some crates to fit the wooden camphor cutting boards. The idea was to use them as storage, transport and display so I could do a market stall. Some have backing boards for storage and transport and others don't for display.
They work well and are very easy to diy - if you're making a lot of them, a simple template with cardboard to mark all the holes for drilling makes it so much faster. You can also make them out of pallet wood, but I went with dressed pine so I didn't have to sand it for what feels like forever!
Last week I shared photos of the practice dresses I made using the baby Siena pattern from Little Lizard King. Well here is the final dress I made for our baby's first birthday!
I got the fabric printed by Frankie Bear Fabric because I couldn't find any panda fabric that I liked. Our daughter looked so cute in it, bold colours really suit her so I'm glad I chose that purple for the extra skirt, sash and flutters. I also wanted to add the second flutters in lace, and meant to add lace to the bottom but I had already hemmed it. Super happy with how it turned out, hopefully it fits her for awhile after all that work!
I wanted to go a little over the top for our baby's first birthday dress. I chose the Siena baby dress pattern from Little Lizard King. I decided to make the simple versions in 12m and 18m sizes just to make sure I had the right size before starting her party dress.
I spent far too long trying to find panda party favours that would be enjoyed by kids of all ages, not lollies, food, noisy or annoying for the parents and hopefully not something that will be thrown away as soon as they get home!
I settled on Play Doh and a cookie cutter that I designed and added to Thingiverse. We're not sure about the safety of using 3D printed items with food since the filament is porous and has lots of gaps so I'd suggest not actually using it as a cookie cutter!
Does anyone else get excited when they find super cute free sewing patterns? This one is the Chloe Dress Baby from Vintage Little Lady. It also comes in girls and tween sizes.
It was the perfect pattern to make a little bunny dress, just in time for the long weekend - luckily bunnies are cute any time of the year!
