Sewing by Experience

I did some sewing over summer.

There was this list, you see.  A list I'd had since LAST summer.  Unfinished.  Stuffed in a bag in the sewing desk.  Waiting.

This time, I got at least half of my list done.  That's pretty good I think, considering my sewing skills are rusty at best.

I have still not fixed straps on two dresses I've owned, but not worn, for nearly 18 months.  Ugh.

But, I have turned a pair of cargo pants into shorts (the knees were worn through).  And spent many happy days wearing them over summer.  I think I like them better as shorts than I did when they were pants!  I'm hoping I might get another summer out of them before they get holes in places I cannot mend!  Grin.

I turned a pair of jeans into jean shorts.  They had worn out knees too.  I'd not planned on doing this, but am glad I did.  They make comfortable shorts, just as they made comfortable jeans (thanks bros, your gift lives on!).

I added to my sewing list half-way through by finding a rather nice, almost unworn pair of jeans at a second hand store for the princely sum of about $8.  They, of course, needed hemming.  So I did.  I am VERY proud of myself, that I didn't just ask a friend, my mother, or my mother-in-law to do this for me.  I even went and found a matching weight and colour thread.  Hemming them did pretty much take the entire day that Munchy was at preschool (5hours)!  But hopefully it will be well worth it.

I then proceeded to mend another dress I've had for 18months and hardly worn, because it was damaged.  It needed a tulle liner re-gathered, and reattached.  Done.  Have I ever mentioned that I really don't like gathering?!?  It also needed some hand stitching to mend a piece down the front.  I'm really happy with how that turned out.  It was quite difficult to pick up the fine fabric (which had frayed) and get it looking okay.  Again, I impressed myself with my abilities (and patience!).  This time I managed to find some matching cotton in my mum's stash.

Next were the cushions.  Now, having made four cushion covers I consider myself to be somewhat of an expert, not!  Note to self: would have been easier if I'd found a pattern online or something. Might not have had to unpick that zip so many times!  I made two small covers for myself, with two different zip-into-fabric methods.  Which do you prefer?  I actually think I prefer the zip showing, rather than hidden.  Partly because of how much work the hidden one was!  I've had the inserts for years (like 5 or so!). The fabric was on sale.  $3 a metre. The cushions now grace my chair.

I made two cushion covers for my mum with some fabric I found that matches her new throw and cushion colours.  It was her birthday present.  Although she only got one on the day!  And that took me pretty much all day to make.  Thankfully the second one was a bit easier.  Again, experimentation with zips and such went on, and the second was a much better made piece of sewing (yay!  I got better!).

There are still other things on my sewing list, but study has started again, so in all likelihood they will remain there until next summer!  There's the pair of jeans I want to replace the knees in.  I just love my grey jeans and don't want to give them up.  But they are old so I might only get another season out of them.  I think I'll ask a friend if she can do that job for me, as it looks a bit beyond my skill and patience.

And there's the pair of flannelette PJs that I need to sew back up.  I've unpicked them to lengthen them at the waist a little as they were, for some reason, smaller than the other pair they came with.  But haven't actually done the sewing.  Probably should do that one before summer.   Before winter, even!  Hmmmm.  Could be interesting.

Amy

 

As Promised

As mentioned, I've been working on a new project.

It's a crocheted blanket!

I'm about halfway through.

It's been an eye-opening experience.  I have to admit, much to my embarrassment, that I've had this wool for over 8 years.  I bought it specifically to make a mohair crocheted blanket just like one my mother-in-law has (which, had I not strong moral values, I would have stolen long ago!  It is so deliciously warm, cosy, snuggly, soft, light, airy, and generally delectably perfect-blanket material!).  But of course I bought the wool and then didn't know where to start on the blanket.  My crochet skills to this point have consisted of just enough to join my knitted squares together, and that was very slow going for many years.  So the wool has stayed stashed away, out of sight and mostly out of mind.  But in the last couple of years it's been bugging me.  I really should use it!  So I finally got it out and my wonderful mother-in-law sat down with me and showed me how to make it. 

Guess what?  It is REALLY EASY.  Super, super, simple.  One stitch pattern the ENTIRE blanket, with just slight variations.  I feel a bit silly.  But at least I'm doing it now.  And now I've discovered how, I'm motivated to do more.  I have grand schemes to make a blanket for my boy (who's a hot sleeper and doesn't really have a summer blanket) and another for me.  I bought this wool years ago and simply chose the best available colour at the time, returning to the store once a week to buy my 10 balls of wool.  But I don't actually like it.  Silly, silly, silly.  It is super soft and snuggly, but I just can't find it in me to love the colour.  So this one will probably be gifted to Operation Cover Up and I hope to buy more wool one day to make myself one.  I'll probably make it slightly lighter too, as this has ended up a bit thicker than I'd intended. 

The reason I love these blankets?  Well, they are super soft.  But it's the holeyness that I really love.  That you can curl your fingers through the holes and kind of knead it like a cat.  I love the beauty in the basic woven pattern and how amazingly warm they are for something so light and comfortable.

Amy

THE Cardigan

Some of my readers will know that I love to knit.

The thing is, I love to knit squares.

No adding, no decreasing, no slip stitch under or over, or counting stitches, or trying to work out what you did wrong.  No unpicking.  Never.

You can therefore imagine my absolute delight in being able to show you the results of a full year's worth of effort!

THIS is Munchkin's cardigan.

Knitted BY ME!

All of it.

Okay, so there were a few patches that required my mother-in-law's intervention, dedication, and unpicking skills!  I did, after all, get the pattern from her.

And she did sew it all together for me, and put the buttons on.  And post it back to us!

Don't you just LOVE the buttons?!  The wool colours were chosen simply from what was available when I bought - a lovely green and blue multi teamed with straight blue.

But the rest is mine!  I figured if I didn't get her to put it together, he might not get to wear it this winter.  And as he's a regular bean-pole, I was feeling a little worried that it might not fit for long.

Never fear, there's plenty of room still for growth.  I made the wrist cuffs double sized.  So at the moment they get doubled over, but later on they can be turned half down, or even worn without turning.  I am a genius!  Or at least sometimes I have moments of brilliance.  The other factor is that it's a raglan sleeve, which somehow means the body length ends up quite long (don't ask me for the specifics of how this works, I just know it worked really well in my favour this time round, as it's added even more length to the extra rows I'd included and comes right down over his pants like a good cardigan should!).

One proud knitter.

I am back to squares.  And very happy to stay there for some time.  Don't get me wrong, when I see my boy wearing his cardigan and people ask who knitted it, it gives me such satisfaction to be able to answer (for once!) that I DID (rather than having to say it was an op-shop find, or knitted by a grandparent).  BUT, the pearl knitting totally killed my left wrist.  And I really don't like reading patterns. I just don't think that's ever going to come naturally to me. I have a few other, smaller, projects in mind for the next year or two, but next winters woolys are going to be op-shopped.  Somehow I don't think my preschooler will mind!

Amy

Getting Creative!

Munchkin and I have just completed a successful craft activity and I'm so excited I just had to share it with you right away!!!

*Note to self: Successful craft activity at this stage in our lives means at least thirty minutes of Mummy prep, and a ten minute activity before the Munchinator has had enough and gone to play with his cars (as he is currently doing)!  Must remember to keep things short and sweet like this so I don't get left to finish everything off.  Grin.

I have been reading a bit about Invitations to Play/Create/Learn online recently, and been impressed into doing something myself, but realised that while we are amply supplied with cardboard and colouring in utensils, we actually lack good preschooler craft materials (you know, things like coloured iceblock sticks, pom-poms, glitter, pipe cleaners and chunky beads).  They are now added to the birthday wish-list.  To be honest, up to this point it has been hard to keep the boy's attention on craft things.  While he has very good fine motor hand skills, he's just too interested in things that move or being outside.  This is not a bad thing, in my mind, so I've just followed those interests.  But being a bit older now, he's showing more interest in drawing and creating (as I write, he has taken a large cardboard box that was lying around in the conservatory and backed his wooden train into it as a garage, then requested some sellotape to close the 'garage door' - I can hear the sellotape being opened and closed, opened and closed!).

Munchkin has had two capes since his second birthday, made for him by me.  But he's shown almost no interest in them.  Until this week.  This week, the three of us (Munchy, Daddy, and Mummy) have been wearing the cape.  And Daddy made an impromptu pretend crown out of a square of cardboard from around a new grater we just bought.  That made me think, what if we make crowns?!  That could be something easy enough to enjoy.

Last night I did some Mummy prep.  I have finally worked out that if I try and do this while Munchkin helps or watches, it makes the activity take too long and he gives up partway through.  Or I want to scream.  Neither being very helpful, last night's efforts were well rewarded.

I set up the table ready for this morning, as an Invitation to Create.  I just used whatever I could find that might work for small hands and a crown, making circles out of coloured foam, strips of paper, etc. after realising that we are seriously lacking in bling!  We don't even have any stickers left!

He noticed as soon as he got up, and came to investigate.  I managed to get him to wait until after breakfast (just) before we started.  A genius stroke was putting the glue into a jar with a brush, instead of trying to pour from the not-so-helpful container it came in.

What we got out of this:
Great coordination required practice...
Wiping the brush against the side of the glue jar to remove excess glue
Holding the brush
Carefully placing items on spots of glue
Collecting up all the little bits to return them to their containers afterwards
Writing M for Munchkin (he holds with my hand over the top)

Chances to talk about patterns (which we will do later when we wear our crowns as I made mine with patterns).

A nice time creating together.

Future times of imaginative play as we enjoy wearing our crowns and capes and pretending to be Kings and Queens.

Now, the only thing I'm wondering is how I get my son to leave all the nice things stuck to his crown!?  He has this tendency to pull them all off again afterwards. Grin.

Services required to help sellotape garage door again.  He has just appeared at my side with a ball of sellotape, asking me to fix it.  Haha, there are some things even a Mummy can't fix my boy!

Amy

Wait...distracted by the package sitting on my desk - he is now opening it for me!  Birthday is going to be fun this year!

Material

Look what delightful things arrived in my mail box recently!!!

FABRIC.

Oh, how I do love fabric.

The feel of it...I just love that fabric can feel so different, from soft and fluffy to gritty and course, smooth and slick, to knobbly and wobbly.  Fabric feels delightful.  I really mustn't shop for fabric with my son.  I am a very bad influence.  Do not touch, I tell him.  All the time.  Yet what do I do, just as soon as I step into a fabric store?  I touch EVERYTHING.  I stroke.  I rub.  I just let my hand glide over as I walk past.  Ahhh, the feel of fabric.

And then the look of it.  So many patterns.  Some tiny and intricate.  Some patterns defined by their near absence while others almost scream at you, "Look at me!"

This little stash was sent to me by a fabric lover, of course.  A fabric lover who has undertaken the difficult task of culling.  Ah, such a hard thing to do, as any lover of fabric will well know.

But I am glad.  Glad that she was able to do it, to free up some space and let go.  But mostly, I'm glad because I got to have it!  Hehe.  So while one person creates free space, another now has a little stash waiting on the sewing desk because I haven't worked out quite where to put it in the cupboard yet!

I do, however, know what I will be using it for.  Bags.  And maybe skirts.  Lots of bags.  Big bags for books.  Little bags for marbles or hairties.  Bags with polkadots and bags with flowers, bags with stripes, and bags with swirls.  Possibly even some patchwork bags, a mix of a bit of this with a bit of that, stripes here and spots there.

They will be loved, whatever their pattern and texture of that I am sure.  Loved because they will probably be the only bag their owner possesses.  I am making bags for Operation Christmas Child.  And if I happen to find some matching fabric on sale (or via donation!), I might make a couple of gorgeous little skirts.  I know how to now, having made myself four...very easy to replicate that, and the only other thing I'll need is some elastic for the waists.  But all this creativity is going to have to wait.  I have study to do, lots of study.  Study which I enjoy, so I don't find missing out on sewing too arduous.  I will simply find a spot for my delightful new stash in my sewing cupboard.  And dream about the bags I will make come summer.  Lots and lots of bags.

Amy

ps - A big THANK YOU to my fabric giver, you are awesome and your delightful fabric will be well-used and well-loved!

My Latest Project

You know me.  I have to have a project on the go.  Okay, okay, so that's a major understatement. I  usually have multiple projects in various states of half-completion.  But I am at least better these days at eventually finishing what I started.  And learning not to attempt things such as quilts, dolls clothes, or anything else I am unlikely to finish!  Hehe.

Having finished my skirts, I launched myself straight into another sewing project.  The timing might not be the best, considering I also started study again recently.  But I figured I could always do a little bit here, and a little bit there.  After all, sewing is a bit like that anyway.

They are bags.   Drawstring bags.  I found some fabric off-cuts for a grand total of $4.  I'm able to make 9 bags and still have half the yellow fabric left over.  Wahoo.  I've made a pattern for them myself (and feeling really clever - here's hoping it does all work out!).  The idea is that they are just a little bit bigger than a 1B5 exercise book.  I had thought I'd make them as shoulder bags, but Mum  had the oh-so-brilliant idea of making them drawstring.  Really simple sewing.  No silly handles to worry about.  And the added benefit that the kids receiving these bags would probably get much more use out of something that does up.  They are for my Operation Christmas Child boxes you see.  My Mother-in-law met someone recently who helped deliver boxes, and commented on how little these kids often have to store their belongings in.  So I figured a simple drawstring bag would go a long way to helping them keep their precious gifts safe.  You can imagine my delight when I found such cheap, and lovely fabric to make them.

So far, they've been cut out.  Munchkin supervised.  The side seams were sewn up.  Then overlocked at Mum's.  My next step is to fold and iron the top casing for the drawstring, then I can sew it, and pop some ties in.  A nice simple, straightforward project.  Very fulfilling and satisfying.  If this goes well, I might end up making Munchkin a swimming bag on a similar principle at some point (I had one as a kid my mum made for me that I was prodigiously proud of!).

I'm just amazed at how good it feels to be gaining more experience with my sewing.

Amy

Number Cards

After success with our Letter Cards, I decided to whip up some numbers ones.  These are very basic, just a written number and some shapes, drawn with yellow pen.  But then they don't need to win any artistry awards, do they?  Just as long as they help Munchkin learn to recognise his number names.  I mostly used shapes for the pictures, as we haven't  really covered any except circles so far.  May as well make them serve a double purpose!

Amy

Getting Ahead of Myself?

You all know I am a planner.  You didn't know that?  Ah, well.  You should.

I am a major planner.  Planning is how I survive.  I am good at it.  It helps me feel calmer.  So I plan.

But sometimes, I go overboard.  Like trying to make the birthday cards for the next six months.  That might be a bit much, Amy.  But then again, I've done it before.  The main issue is when I forget that I made someone a card, so I go and make them another one then later find the original.  Duh!  This has happened before.  At least twice.  But both times it was a September birthday.  So I'm learning from my past mistakes and am only doing till June.  Mid-year break.  I figure I can make some more then.  I have a little stash started, but of course I keep adding to my 'to do' list as I remember more cards I want for the year ahead!

Various birthday and thank you cards.  The top right is thanking my  dad for helping fix paint on our car  (I painted the car, Munchkin coloured), and the bottom left for friends lending us their amazing train set (another combined creation by Mummy and Munchy).

It does suit me, doing cards this way.  I get in the 'groove' of card creation and can churn out a dozen or so before I've had enough (we just hope that dinner wasn't due before then!).  Then when I need a card, I don't have to haul out my (slightly disorganised, crammed into a shelf of the cupboard) stash of materials to make a single card while trying to stop Munchkin getting into anything.

Cards are not the only thing I have been planning ahead lately.

I've been busily working on our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes for next year.  This because I am not only a planner, but a budgeter (it's just another form of planning really, isn't it?).   And  I know that I can get WAY better prices for many things just now than I will ever be able to score later in the year.  Like flannels (facecloths for the non-Kiwis!) at $1 or $1.50 each (Briscoes, half price), toothbrushes at $1 each (PakNSave on special), and the soaps I got a month or so ago (really, really early!  New World I think, 50c each).  And then yesterday, I happened to see some little plastic soap boxes for just 20c each at Payless Plastics!  SCORE!  The kids that receive these shoeboxes often own no other personal items, and live in a home without any form of storage.  So having little containers or bags for their belongings could be just as precious to them as the gift it contains.  I must admit, I didn't actually see the big box full of soap containers.  Munchkin did.  He thought they looked cool.  Mummy decided he was right!

Then there's my stationery stash.  Some for shoeboxes.  Some for us.  For us: a pair of sizzors, rolls of sellotape, and two drawing books for Munchkin, plus study material for Boyo and I.  Nothing flash, but necessary none the less.  I need to go back and get a few ring binders.  Forgot those, ugh.

So if you need any stationery for the year ahead, now is the time.  BIG, BIG, BIG savings at Warehouse Stationery.  Like, 10c notebooks, 29c writing books, 33c pencils...this stash (8 rulers, 8 erasers, 8 metal pencil sharpeners, 8 maths lined books, 8 writing books, 8 notebooks, 24 pencils) cost me just shy of $30.  I saved that same amount again.  They are sitting here in front of two of our shoeboxes.  We actually forgot to wrap on Christmas Day!  Blame me having a cold and family visiting for the day...we did it later in the week.

What plans do you have underfoot for this year?  Are you a planner by nature or necessity?

Amy

Brushing up on my Skills

I'm slowly getting better.  Slowly gaining confidence.  This is a long learning curve and a slow process.

I tell myself that sometimes it is not about the finished product.  While a neatly finished product is always good for the ego, sometimes life is more about the learning.  And sometimes (often-times I tend to find!) learning is messy.  There's lots of unpicking.  Lots of starting over.  Lots of learning from your mistakes and then trying not to make the same one again.

I am learning to sew.

I am learning because I need to.  Being a slender build, and short as well, I really need to be able to hem a skirt or pants, or tuck in a top.  I imagine I will need this skill for Munchkin too, but for the opposite reason.  He's tall.  Very tall.  I will probably be constantly dropping hems for this boy!

I'm learning because I want to.  I don't want to be the one who has to tell my children or grandchildren that it was me, my generation, that lost centuries of skills because I was too busy or too lazy to learn.  Because I somehow figured it wasn't important any more.  Sure, I have a mother-in-law and a mother who are both skilled with a sewing machine.  I could always ask them.  Sometimes I do.  Usually if I think a mending job is well beyond my abilities, or if I am busy (read: studying madly!).  But I'm trying these days to rely less on them and more on my own abilities to make do and learn for myself.  One day they won't be here to ask.  My children will be asking me instead, and I need to be able to do at least some of these things.  So instead of asking them to do it for me, I'm trying to ask them HOW to do it.  Or ask my pattern-making friend.  I'm learning how to choose fabric (really, really important as I used to choose the wrong weight, etc and then hated wearing the clothes because they didn't work the way I thought they would).  I'm learning how to do simple mending.  And I'm learning to make clothes for myself.  My friend is teaching me how to make a basic gathered layer skirt, with a pattern we've created.  Suits me really well, I'm discovering, this 'make yourself a pattern' concept as it is really basic and simple sewing, but flexible for my body shape and size.

I do at least have a sewing desk accessible now.  It is beside the bed, tucked into the corner of our bedroom.  I didn't realise we could even fit it in there, but we can!  I've even used it.  This is what I did when Munchkin had a sleepover with his grandparents recently:

I changed the straps on a dress (top left - ta-dah!), as it was nearly strangling me (made them straight instead of up round the neck), reattached strap on another dress (bottom right - ziggzag - I am working out that sometimes it doesn't matter how it looks as long as no one will notice and it will hold together! In this case, the big ruffle in the front covers my sewing nicely and there was just no way to get that strap back into the lining so this will do!).  I mended a tear in one of Munchkin's tshirts.  I shortened straps on another dress as well as cutting a good 30cm off the hem so it is now mid-calf instead of to my shoes (WOW!  Even a year ago I would have never attempted that!).  And I made a Christmas Stocking for Munchkin, using another one we had as a guide for size and shape.  I am feeling quite pleased with myself.  Now if only I could manage to stitch in the elastic on the two skirts that are almost finished, and then work on the two that are barely started....hehe.


Amy

A Brown Paper Bag

Ever in need of some wrapping paper?

Perhaps you have a plain old paper bag.

I had a second hand one in my stash, and a gift to wrap.

Add a ribbon, and brown paper becomes quite delightful.




Amy

A Bit of Creativity

Munchkin and I made some cards.  He drew.  I supervised. (read: stopped him from eating the pens or drawing on anything other than the piece of cardboard, helped take lids off and put them back on, and verbally encouraged lots of drawing - I must admit to having a definite goal in mind!)

Then I cut out little squares from his drawing, popped them onto cardboard, and wha-lah!  A whole bunch of thank you cards.

I think they look quite cute, don't you?

Amy

Busy, busy, busy

The reason  you have not been hearing from me much lately (aside from being a little bit out-blogged after all the Live Below the Line posts!)...

I am painting.

And reminding myself that if I want the chook cage to last, it is worth painting.  Sigh.  It is so time consuming, and I have just three weeks left to get it all finished.  Three weeks before I have to knuckle down again and complete yet another monstrously large assignment then study for an exam.  Last week I gave myself a bit of leeway and had a few afternoon naps.  This week I will be a sterner task master for sure!  Nothing like a deadline to get oneself motivated!  Grin.

Amy

Cards

I am having a go with Photoscape for the first time!  Very, very cool being able to group photos into one picture like this, and doing the basics in it is much easier than I expected.  I wonder why I put it off for so long!

Here are some recent cards I made, using Photoscape to display them for you:

The smaller ones are gift cards, some as thank you's for Munchkin's birthday presents, others to go with little gifts.  The larger were random cards I came up with while trying to do my sister-in-law's birthday card.  As she reads this blog, the card I ended up making will have to wait for a few more weeks yet.

Amy

On My Mind

Linking in with Rhonda at Down to Earth, on my mind today is:

The chook cage and how much harder it is proving to put together than I thought!  Here are all the bits of framing waiting to be used!
I shall head out this afternoon and try to get a longer drill bit as the 80mm screws are proving beyond me to screw in straight and my pre-drilling isn't going deep enough. 

Amy

Chook Cage Update

I did some more work on the chook cage yesterday.  Borrowed my dad's cordless drill, which is a bit of a gutless wonder (charge for three hours, use for 10mins were his instructions and fairly accurate - but then my arms need about the same so no worries!).  This at least means I don't have to find money to buy one for myself just yet.  I managed to get the sides screwed on.  I then spent some time pondering the nest box/perch area and just what order to screw all the next bits on in.  And also that I've managed to get the size a bit wrong for the ply on the nest - need to get that adjusted by Dad sometime in the coming weeks. 

I am making much slower progress than I hoped.  With muscles already sore from carrying Munchkin and doing housekeeping, I am finding I can only manage a small amount of drilling before my arms give out.  Not that I have much time available anyway.  At least I have allowed myself lots of extra time, in starting now.  Hopefully I can just get it all finished by September so I can get my chookies then!

Amy

Ribbon Toys

I made some Ribbon Toys yesterday.  One set is for Munchkin, the other two are birthday presents for a couple of his friends.  I have come across these in local kindergartens, and our local Tiny Boppers music session uses them with great effect.  The kids just love them!  They are made using ice cream container lids, a pair of reasonably sharp sizzors, a hole punch, and some ribbons.  I got 2.5m each of 7 different colours which made enough for 6 (and cost $4.60NZ).  One of them I used 60cm lengths and doubled the ribbons over, but then realised I'd run out so just did single lengths of 40cm for the other two.  You just knot the ribbons really tight through the hole punched holes.  I also 'sealed' the ribbons to try and prevent fraying.  A candle would work well (I used a lighter) and as a technical note, it is easier to do this before tying them onto the handle!  Yup, I forgot and had to do it later. 

Now I am wondering if anyone has an idea for a holder that is new, rather than second hand?  I like to repurpose and recycle items as much as possible so am really happy to do it this way for us and our friends, but I thought that this could be a great gift in my Shoe Boxes.  The thing is that they specifically require every item to be new.  This would be to stop kids getting someone's old nasty junk, I imagine.  So I'm trying to come up with something new that I could use as a ribbon holder, that only costs around a dollar.  Any ideas, folks?

Amy

Birthday Cake

Here is the finished birthday cake, Round One.  I say Round One because the icing had issues, or rather I had issues with the icing, so I had another go in the morning (Round Two - final!).

From doing this cake I learnt some vital cake-making lessons:
Cake making is not as easy as it may seem.
It is all about the icing - getting the right consistency - too runny equals mess, too sticky equals hard to manage.  Either way, icing not doing what you want.  You get the idea.
Plan ahead.  I didn't think about how the icing would all work so we stuck the 1 on top of the rest of the cake, then I tried icing it all...ended up with blue 1 icing running into not-yet-set white icing.  Our cake ended up with a double lot of white icing the following morning to cover all the blueness!
Let one lot of icing dry completely before adding another!
Ice individual parts before adding them to the cake, rather than the other way around.
And the most important part: TALK TO YOUR MOTHER FIRST!  She has been there, done that and knows way more about making kids birthday cakes than me.   I could have lowered my stress levels by at least half by asking her a few questions.  This I realised AFTER I made the cake.  Duh.
And the second most important thing I learnt (or is it the first and asking Mum second?): ENJOY the experience.  Laugh.  Don't worry if it is not perfect (as my moral support kept reminding me!). 

And here is the cake on display on the day.  I must say that it is VERY tasty.  Amazing really, as I was going for a 'plain' old sponge cake.  It ended up with several thin layers of butter icing between 3 levels of sponge though, delicious, as well as the icing and lollies on top.  The lollies were our (almost) only concession to 'real' party food (the other was some chippies for Boyo!).  Boyo was creative artist.  He cut and positioned the 1, and did all the lollies.

Amy

A Quick Project

After a great deal of frustration over screws not going in straight, bits of wood not staying put, and a drill that I couldn't manage, I decided this afternoon to turn my thoughts to simpler, gentler creative pursuits.  Our church is gathering a few little things to bless some folks, and this is part of my contribution.  It took about half an hour.  I bought the cellophane and curling ribbon yesterday.  The tea light candles I actually got for myself (they are apple scented and cost a whole dollar, yay for specials!).  But then I realised that I probably don't need to keep the whole 36 tea lights for myself so fished this lovely sparkly green ribbon out from my stash to wrap them with.  Delightful.  There is something about cellophane and ribbon that thrills my soul.  The bathsalts are made with epsom salts, geranium scented, and coloured very lightly with pink food colouring.  Pretty as a picture, and smell like a garden!  I hope that their recipients will feel blessed.  I certainly enjoyed putting them together.  A successful little project like this was just what I needed to calm my frazzled chook-framing nerves!

Amy

A Start

I have started the chook cage.  I meant to have photos of the design here for you, but the camera was at Polytech with Boyo today.  The joys of sharing a camera.  I am thankful that we do have our own laptops these days.  Grin.  I have an amazing husband, and an amazing son.  They came with me to Mega 10 as technical support (okay, so Munchkin only came to trolley ride, but hey what else can you expect from a nearly one year old?!).  My parents kindly loaned me their trailer, and my dad's skills that afternoon to cut the ply with his electric saw.  That was last Saturday.  Boyo looked after Munchkin for the afternoon so I could get the ply all cut.  Thanks Boyo!  I returned last Monday with Munchkin to cut the framing by hand.  He blatted around (Amy's word for buzzing here and there, fluffing with this thing and that, and generally enjoying himself) in the playpen while I measured, measured again, and cut.  I have decided to add 'good quality saw' to my personal wish list.  My dad's ones are a bit old and worn, although I am very grateful for the use of them!  My personal list now includes: spade, fork, hand saw, and cordless drill.  The last of which I shall be buying this week. I  have yet to work out with what money I am buying this, but buy one I am determined to do.  Today I had a go at screwing the framework together, you see.  I was using my dad's old drill.  Which is certainly helpful, but too heavy and baulky than I can manage - I need something I can use with one hand at least some of the time, so I can use the other hand to hold the bit of wood!  Today's attempts were not particularly successful.  But just to prove that I have started something, here are some pictures of the materials cut ready to assemble!

Amy

Wool, Glorious Wool!

We had a brand new Spotlight open recently!  Horray!  Tauranga was meant to get one years ago, but for some reason it never happened.  Well, finally it is here.  I headed off to the opening sale with a list of items, mostly for the birthday party this coming weekend.  I came home with 12 zips.  Each a different colour.  I'm so excited!  The plan is to make some little fabric money bags that are zipped.  As I don't have the fabric yet, I thought I'd start with the zips.  It seemed a good idea to have each bag a different colour or pattern to help differentiate between them.  I'm not sure when this project will actually commence.  I do have a chook cage to build and a birthday party to organise first, after all!  But just knowing I have a stash of beautiful zips in my sewing drawer gives me happy wiggles inside.

Small hands wanting to help look after my new stash!

Another source of happy wiggles was the wool I found!  I came away with the equivalent of 19 x 50g balls.  There were a few pricing disasters.  Namely: I picked up the wrong ball of wool - duh - not on special - grrrrrrrr, silly girl, and it was the LAST one I picked up after carefully checking each and every other ball of wool first, then they gave me a 12.5% discount instead of the advertised 25% off one lot of wool, which I have tried to call the store about, but being opening weekend didn't get through and with it costing us as much in petrol to go back and have the issue remedied I have decided to leave it be and grumble in peace, after all I DID read the docket before exiting the store and didn't notice so I can't really take at least some of the blame off myself for it all!  But even with all the fluff over wrong prices, I still came out having paid $55 for all that wool.  We worked out that makes it about $2.89 per 50g.  That's better than anything I've bought in ages.  It's sad, I used to be able to get wool at around $3 a ball, but the past few years the average price seems to be more like $5.20.  I also got a bit smart before I put it all away.  At least I thought I was.  I fished out the kitchen scales and weighed 8 knitted squares and worked out they are 30g each.  So in theory, that should mean it will take 35 x 50g of wool to knit one blanket.  The thing is, I'm so sure I use more than that!  Ah well, I will have to keep better records on my next blanket.  I am really chuffed with this lot of wool.  I stuck with blues, purples, greys, black and white as I want to do something that is kind of colour coordinated, while still being able to make random squares.  I'd love a decent orange or yellow to go with it but they didn't have any.  I'm adding a bit of multi coloured mohair and some purple cotton to the mix too, just as narrow highlights for some different texture.  I had them lying around so thought they may as well be used!  Of course, now I want to start on the new blanket right away.  Never mind that I still have about a quarter on the current one left to finish!  Hehe.  The idea discussed with Boyo is that this wool will probably be my birthday present.  Unless of course I can come up with some other way to pay for it between now and September!  Grin.