Mary-janes

I am working on some little baby girls shoes, otherwise known as mary-janes, to add to a friends stall at some local markets next weekend.

I bought the pattern a while ago, and when she asked if I wanted to put anything on the stall I thought I should give them a go, seeing I had the pattern and all.

They are coming up very well, most impressed!

I am thinking of tweaking the pattern to make some baby boys shoes, there always seems to be heaps around for girls and the gorgeous boys miss out a bit. Maybe tomorrows project....then there are those shorts for me I want to cut out, some curtains to adjust, a new blouse, RMW's new summer pjs....so much to sew, not enough time!

Roman effing Blinds

I haven't been doing a lot of what you would call "fun" sewing of late - roman blind city at my place currently. Since the start of February I have made the spare room roman blind, my bedroom roman blind, and two more roman blinds for the lounge room. I have one more to go, the kitchen, which is about 90% complete.

I can't wait, wait, wait to have them all done. They look brilliant, and really make the rooms look complete, but after making five blinds, I am way over them! I am also sick of responding to the question of "what are you doing this weekend Caz?" with "Oh, you know, making roman blinds"!!

So hopefully by this evening the last blind will be made, and I might be able to have a play with some Amy Butler fabric I bought on E-Bay a while ago.

I will post some photos of all this mad activity in my next post, I haven't been taking many photos lately either, very bad.

Fun Day Markets

I'm having a nice quiet week this week, after my mad flurry of action over the last week and a half, making handbags, clutches and coin purses for a stall I had on the weekend at a family fun day/markets in town. The rain-threatening weather kept a lot of people away, so it was a bit quiet, but I got to meet a lovely couple Bill and Judy - Bill is an artist who live just around the corner from me. They were really nice to chat to, and I also got to launch my new business card - and even gave one out! (Okay, the markets weren't overly successful, but I got to have a morning in the park, and husband even vacuumed the house while I was out - bonus!).




The fun day was Sunday, and I really wanted to wear something groovy and handmade, which it seems I don't have a lot of - so settled on a top I made last year. Which got me wanting to make some more clothes for myself...except I really didn't want to spend $20 on a pattern, and I really couldn't be stuffed doing the interfacing, pin-tucking, button-hole making, zip inserting etc. Which led me to finding this tutorial on the internet: http://www.thingsofcloth.com/documents/Adult-size_Peasant_Blouse_Tutorial.pdf I made it yesterday, and was pleasantly surprised at how it turned out! The next one I make I think I will "tweak" it a little to fit a bit differently, but there are no darts, interfacing, buttons, zippers or pin-tucking to be seen, just a lot of elastic threading which was easy enough! Here is the result (FYI - I am wearing a 3/4 sleeve top underneath):



I had to take the longer sleeve top off later through the day as it got quite warm, but the blouse turned out to be lovely and cool, not bunching up under my armpits creating a BO sauna, fab!

Bags and Swimming Lessons

RMW has started water confidence classes at the local heated pool, and while things didn't start out the way I had hoped (he pretty much cried the whole first class, poor little man) the second class was a totally different story! A little hesitant at first, but after we sang a song with a little bit of quiet splashing to go with, he was won over, and absolutely loves the water! We went swimming again this morning just to make the most of our pool pass, and he had heaps of fun again. We both needed a little catnap at lunchtime!

I have been very busy making bags and clutches/purses for the next markets, happening this Sunday. I bought some beautiful fabric last week, and have already made five purses and halfway through making the bags:

I am enjoying making them, but at the same time am ready to make something different.

This Little Piggy Went to Market!

I decided on Thursday last week that yes, I would do a stall at the markets on Sunday. For some reason I was feeling very "I can do it!" and made the phone call to book a stall. Pull out my finger and get my crafting/sewing mojo back into action! Craft Power!

Although I didn't have a huge amount of stock to sell, I still had some softies, hair-clips, finger puppets, singlets and bibs left over from the stall I had at the Cobar Public School fete. I decided to add to that, by making some kids bathroom bags. So off RMW and I went to Spotlight on Friday to buy some new fabric, zippers and plastic tablecloth. Except they were busy and I really couldn't be stuffed to wait around to get MORE fabric (usually after being overlooked by staff by serving other customers who hadn't waited as long as me - when oh WHEN are they going to get a number system like the Woolies Deli?!?). So instead I settled for zippers and the plastic, and got the hell out of there before RMW cracked it big time. We still had the groceries to do, afterall.

I searched through my stock of fabric and (unsurprisingly) found some suitable material and by Saturday afternoon had made 8 bags for the markets and one for RMW (the prototype, which had a few bugger-ups on it - he does need a bathroom bag, really).



And they did quite well at the markets too! I sold all the boys ones, and one of the girls ones, so well worth the effort I reckon.

The markets were fun, I sold a bit of everything, but best of all got to chat to other groovy stallholders, some nice customers, and got loads of good feedback and some new ideas. And my crafting juices are very, well, juicy! I was given some pamphlets from other organisations (schools, aged care facilities etc) for other upcoming markets, which I fully intend on going to. A jolly good morning out!

Now, time to do some mending (ew). Husbands work-shorts have busted the crotch seam, and I'm sick of seeing a flash of undies every time he sits down! Why don't men care about that sort of thing? I'll have to change the thread in my sewing machine which will probably be the longest part of the mending process, but I will also be in the running for house-wife of the year, not bad!

Folders Complete

I finished my covered folders, and thought they looked so snazzy I also spruced up the boxes I already had. It was pretty easy too! Looks very Tara Dennis, don't you think?!? I had some paper left over, so I recovered my pencil caddy and note paper holder...



We spent the long weekend camping with my parents on the Darling River. What a wonderful weekend! RMW had a blast, didn't stop the whole time. He has a few burrs in his hands from falling onto prickles continuously - can't wait until they fester a bit and I can dig them out!

I took a photo of a billabong near where we were camping - there were some black swans there, which I thought was pretty cool. I only took a few photos while there which was a bit of a waste, but I was far too busy drinking cuppas and eating slice to do much more! Very relaxing.



Must go rescue RMW, he has learnt how to climb and is about to do a nose dive off the side of the lounge. Doesn't he know I am busy blogging?!

Pretty Paper

I desperately need folders to put some of my crafting "stuff" into - pattern pieces that I make up, inspirational pictures/ideas, business documents for markets etc. I'm sure you catch my drift, just somewhere to put this "stuff" instead of pinning it to a messy corkboard as I have been:

Hideous, I'm sure you agree.

And I refuse to spend $20 on a pretty folder from one of the big office stationery suppliers, beautiful yes, but $20 for a folder? Does anyone really spend that much on a folder?

So I bought a $2 ugly black folder, and plan on covering them in the below pretties, much nicer! (And better on the pocket too!)