Velvet Sweetheart

This is the Velvet sweetheart dress made for our neighbour's cute three year old little girl's birthaday present.

It is made out of navy velvet fabric lined with a sweet blue floral cotton from my fabric stash, I think my mother gave it to me. I found the perfect sky blue mother of pearl buttons for it at the local sewing shop.

I didn't have a pattern so took a size 2 dress and traced around it sizing up by adding a about 5cm all around. Then I tapered the skirt in a bit as there wasn't quite enough fabric.

sorry about the bad photos they don't the detail as well as they should.

A very special week

We have had quite a busy week like most people do but a few special things have happened.

My lovely MIL came down and helped prune my roses with was brilliant and quite satisfying. It is a bit late in the season but they missed out last year, so like they say better late than never. It was easier to see where to prune as the buds had already started to shoot. We pruned them quite hard but this will hopefully rejuvenate the plants. I got a good lesson in technique as sadly my rose pruning skills are a bit lacking.

I finally finished making my baby wrap, you would it wouldn't be to difficult and it wasn't really. It was made from two lengths of cotton knit fabric 4.5- 5m by 50 - 55cm (two colours look quite nice)
- These are sewn right sides together down the long sides and turned right sides out.
- Then the end are cut in a triangle shape and folded in an sewn.
- Lining up the two pieces to be measured the same width all along and pinned on a polished wooden floor was a bit tricky ( after I finished of course I had the idea to tape the the bottom layer to floor to stop movement).

After a lesson in tieing the wrap from a few local girls we took it for test walk and Tessa and I went down to see daddy at the sheep yards and help chase sheep. A success I think and I wish I made it sooner.

Yesterday I purchased my first digital camera, I'm so excited, it's red. I even managed to bargain the price and get $40 off. I am quite pleased with myself. I have to wait till Sunday to pick it up as there wasn't any red ones in stock.

A special thing happened a few days ago one of my friends had her first baby a gorgeous wee boy called Jett.

The most special thing of the week to occur was the wedding of my best friend. Now this wasn't your run of the mill type wedding. It was wedding disguised as the groom's 30Th birthday party.
At about 7pm the announcement was made that there was going to be a wedding, everyone looked around wondering who it was going to be. Then the stars of the show was announced and the crowd roared with approval and happiness.
Tables and chairs were moved and an aisle was created and we sat and waited for the bridal party to arrive. Now I haven't told you that this was a fancy dress birthday party. Someone heard the car and the music started and the guests hold their breaths and a Robot an two rocks stars come through the door and everyone bursts into laughter, the poor robot trys to melt into the crowd but it's just not possible.
Then someone does here the bridal car and the amazing surprise wedding begins. First the two bridesmaid dressed in little black dresses come down the aisle one after the other. Then the gorgeous 13month daughter of the bride and groom come down the aisle wearing the same wee dress that the bride wore for her mother's wedding, carried by her grandmother. And finally beeeeautiful amazing bride walks down the aisle wearing white strapless gown with silver threading over the bodice and skirt, carrying a bouquet of white roses and chrysanthemums.
And the ceremony began with beautiful vows written by the couple, and when it came to the rings the poor groom dropped his but picked it up quickly saying 5 second rule and everyone laughter. It was beautiful amazing wedding which I felt honored to be a part of and let in on the secret, I did the flowers which turned out quite well. From all the compliments they got. Congratulation's and I wish you all the best !!!!!!!!

spring has risen

Yay we have risen from the depths of winter to the beautiful arrival of spring. All the amazing blossom has burst with promose of delicious fruit in summer. Everything is growing before our eyes I'm sure I can actually see the grass growing. This is nice and a relief as the farm has been getting quite short on grass. I am quite aware that time is running out for pruning the roses, hence I was even more upset when the steers kept breaking into the garden and demolishing (pruning so kindly, yeah right) everything in sight that they didn't prune my roses.

Many things are happening around here I am thinking of giving Tessa her first taste of solids soon which is exciting and sad at the same time she will be leaving the gorgeous milk baby stage and starting the cute big girl solids stage. She is getting quite close to rolling over, nearly there three quarters over but not knowing what to do with her arm.

On a sadder note our eldest cat poor mr kitty has broken his front right leg. We have no idea how this happened but he is now stuck inside for 8 weeks so he can't get his cast wet. Poor thing has to drag is cast around and you can hear coming from across the room. He stands next to the door and meows for us to let him out, it breaks my heart.

Must go miss tiny lovely is in need of my attention.

SMILES

Yay some decent smiles caught on camera, so gorgeous, all it took was the south island grandparents to visit. Grandpa's first meeting with little Tessa. She loves playing sit ups hehe. what a sweetie (not that I'm biased or anything).

craftiness

Here are some examples of recent craftiness.

As mentioned in an earlier post the need for a birthday gift with meaning personalised cushion for a wee girls bedroom. This was quite simple to make, thankfully when you have the inspiration strike the night before the party.

The first step was cut out the background shape in this case a cute heart.

Next find all the appropriate letters and hope there is enough, arrange in colours that look kind of right with with cute little stars surrounding. Then spend awhile glueing felt letters down batting curious cats away who just want to 'help'. The next step is cut out a square in the chosen main fabric in contrasting colour to the background shape, this square is estimated in size by squashing down the cushion insert and guessing with the tape measure if you don't have the measurements on the insert packaging or if you recycling an old cushion use the old cover as a pattern.

For the back an envelope opening is created by cutting two pieces 3/4 sized of the front square. These are then hemmed and the top overlap can be decorated as wished. The background shape is sewn to the front piece and pinned right sides together with the back pieces make sure the top overlap of the back pieces is touching the front piece. The last step is to sew all four edges and open out cushion cover and insert the cushion and voila! cute original birthday gift.

The knitted objects above were quick and fun to make. The ball with different textures and bell inside will be great for Tessa to roll around as she gets more mobile and sits up. The sweet little ladybug is just the right size for Tessa to hold and has crinkly plastic inside for extra tactile fun.

Photos

Yay I have sorted some photos out and scanned a few so here they are.

The first is the best success I have had at capturing a smile with my film camera as it takes too long and the flash goes with each shot giving Tessa a bit of a fright.

The second is Tessa peeking out from a cuddle with dad so cute.

The third photo is Tessa climbing mount dad (sorry cheesy I know hehe) and the third photo is Tessa all ready for bed having cuddles with me.

(sorry about the crazy layout will get the hang of this soon).

Birthdays

Birthday season is upon us well that is exaggerating but we have gone to two little girls first birthday parties in the last couple weeks. It was lovely catching up with a lot people that i hadn't seen Tessa's arrival.
This got me inspired I wanted to give presents that are unique are not just going to be a forgotten mess of broken plastic toys. So the solution was to make something what I came up with was a personalied cushion to go in their bedroom. They are made with a fold over back (similar to a pillowcase) for easy access if they need to be washed and I sewed a big coloured heart on the front with the little girl full name glued on in felt letters. I also put their date of birth in felt letters on the back. I will photos as soon as I can (Im still in the dark ages and only have a film camera which I scan photos from).
A exciting thing happen last weekend (well it was for me and after all the hype you may be let down) I was able to get in the vege garden and weed, dig and plant. I put in red bunching onions, parsley and three type of brassicas. I managed to finish between showers of rain before it really started. Perfect they were nicely watered in without any effort