Versailles dresses

 I still have fabric leftover from these nibling presents I made forever ago and decided to make Lily a Versailles dress before she outgrew the pattern without me ever sewing it!

This fabric is so cute with the little bird, bunny and mouse line drawings. For some reason I thought it wouldn't be a cute dress, but I love it, so much so that I decided to make her Christmas dress with this pattern.

And it turned out so beautiful! I made them in size 4 so they're a bit big but they should fit her next Christmas - although no doubt they'll be too short. I did cut some strips of the red fabric from her Christmas dress so I can add a band around the bottom as Lily grows. I think it's something I'll try and plan for on any future dresses so they can continue being dresses rather than tops!

I added pockets using LLK's free pocket pattern to the Christmas one - amazing that I actually remembered this time. My plan is to tell Lily that it has pockets while we're doing her Christmas photos - hopefully I get a good shot of her - pockets are very exciting for a two year old. To be fair, I also get excited if my dresses have pockets!

My one gripe with this pattern is trying to figure out which way to cut, and sew the ruffle with a directional fabric. Which is precisely why I chose to use a solid red for the Christmas dress.

Finally finished grey crochet blanket

 When I was pregnant with Lily I finished this crochet blanket, which was actually my first crochet project that sat unfinished for many years. The next blanket was started because I found a beautiful silky yarn that ended up being rather annoying to crochet with. That one was finished before Lily was born and has stretched into this long, skinny blanket.

And then I started this plain grey chevron blanket while I was still pregnant and made it a little wider than the other blankets. 

It's had a rough time, the cat knocked my soft drink onto it so I had to rinse that stickiness out. Then Lily kicked my pump and milk went all through my crochet bag so everything needed a proper wash mid project. Lily is now two and half and I've finally finished it - just in time for summer!

The newly started (and already sitting in the cupboard) crochet project is a granny square blanket for our king size bed, I wonder how many years that will take...

Electric chicken fence

 Excuse my absence, life got in the way and I've been too sick to do much other than sit on the couch!

I have an electric netting fence for the chickens, well to be fair it started it's life as a fence for the cat cage, dog and chickens as our property wasn't fenced (Ray has nearly finished that project).

Now that it is solely for the chickens I needed a solution for holding the ends together, but wanted something easier than tying it with rope every time. I was hooking it on a star picket until I noticed was damaging the wire in that spot.

I was almost going to just use one of those spring clamps when I noticed these in the electrical section at Bunnings.

Now that I've been using it for a few months, I've decided it's time to share with the internet. I would prefer something a little easier to do with one hand, but most of the time I can manage. I like that it's all plastic on the outside - now I don't get shocked when I forget to unplug the fence first! Plus even though it's plastic, in full sun, it hasn't faded or deteriorated as far as I can tell.

I think I might even try the large size for the temporary gates - we're currently using bungee cords and carabiners!