Toddler busy bags

We are heading off on a great adventure in the coming days: Four weeks overseas, partly with my all family and partly just our wee family of three. I am currently full of excitement, and a little anxiety, about what is to come. Of a little concern is how our two and a half year old will tolerate the 24 hours in transit it will take to get us there (I can't even think about the extra time it is taking on the way home).
So in an effort to make this trip as painless as possible, I have embarked on a mission - a busy bag mission. Armed with a laminator and pair of scissors I have created for Ruby some little sackfuls of fun... hopefully hours of it.

Inside this cute Dr Seuss case (available from Buttoney Boo) are zip lock bags containing a variety of new activities to keep Ruby occupied.

 

Along with your stock standard drawing implements I have added the following:

'Build a rainbow' felt activity from All our Days,

A cute animal beading game a friend gave us,

 Alphabet letter match up game (cue cards from Mr Printables),

 The very hungry caterpillar matching/ memory game courtesy of Mama's Learning Corner

As a token to my own childhood days, these cute little felt folk and an assortment of clothes and accessories. Felt people and clothing templates available from Billy Bear 4 Kids,

 Ice cream colour matching game from Busy Little Bugs.

Here's hoping that this will help us on our way across the globe. I love the added perk of being able to grab a single activity and throw it my handbag for when we are out and about too.
Wish me luck!
xx

Easy Easter Craft for Kids

It was a bleak and bleary afternoon last week and I felt Ruby and I both needed a break from 'Frozen' playing in the background of ALL our daily activities ("I need it" she tells me). So I thought a little crafternoon project was in order. With Easter fast approaching, and while Rubes was having her nap, I set about preparing a little something to get her creativity going.

We have had fun before with the old 'contact paper on the window' activity, so I thought we could give this an Easter twist. So after scouring the craft box (thankfully containing lots of goodies following Ruby's birthday). This is what we came up with.

What you'll need:
* Clear contact paper
* Coloured cardboard/ thick paper
* An assortment of items for sticking eg. sequins, feathers, bits of cut up coloured paper, felt shapes etc
* Glitter glue pens (optional)

Now, take your cardboard and draw an large egg shape on it. Then fold the card in half and mark about and inch or so inside your egg shape, and cut all around so a smaller egg comes out, but you are left with your outline.

 Measure and cut a piece of contact paper the same size as your cardboard, then remove backing and stick the card onto the contact. (I stuck the backing back over it, as we weren't using it right away and I wanted it to stay sticky). Then cut out around the line you drew earlier so you are left with an egg shape.

 Remove backing, and lay sticky side up on the table and let them stick away!

Hmmm, this requires some concentration...

When they have finished their artwork, stick it to the window so the sun catches it.

We used the glitter glue to decorate the smaller egg shape we had left over from the beginning. Not actually sure we are ready for glue yet though...

Wishing everyone a safe and happy Easter!

xx

Sweet (and easy) little girls pocket skirt tutorial

I love these sweet little skirts. They are made to sit above the knee, so are suitable for crawlers, and look gorgeous on their own or over leggings. Plus they are very easy to make, and can be made in about an hour. The measurements given are for a girl about 9 - 12 months. Just make everything larger for a bigger size.

You will need:

• 1/2 yard of fabric for skirt
• 2 pieces of fabric for pocket (7" x 7" pieces x2 would be ample)
• 16" of 1/2 or 3/4" wide elastic for waistband (make sure you measure around bubs waist first, as you may need longer elastic, so it is not too tight)
• needle and thread

1. To begin, cut 2 rectangles 11" x 16" for your skirt.

2. Place the two rectangles right (printed) sides together. Pin down the shorter sides, and sew down each side using a 1/4" seam, so you are left with a tube, then press the seams flat.

3. Fold the top hem down 1/2" and press flat, then fold over another 1" and pin in place.

4. Sew a seam right along (1/10") the bottom edge of the hem, leaving an 1.5" gap.

5. Fold the bottom hem up 1/2" and press, and then fold over another 1/2" inch, pin and then sew into place as above but do not leave a gap.

6. Using a safety pin to guide, thread the elastic through the opening left in the top hem and all the way around until it comes out the other end of the opening, then sew the ends of elastic together, and sew the opening closed.

7. Cut out two pockets. You can do any shape you like, but you want them roughly 5.5" across and 4.5" down, I like to curve the bottom edge.

8. Pin the pockets together with printed sides in and sew around with a 1/8" seam, leaving a 1.5" gap on one side.

9. Snip off the corners, and clip around the curve at 1cm intervals. Clip up toward the seam, but stop before it so you don't cut the thread.

10. Turn the pocket right way out by pulling it through the opening left in the stitching. Then iron it nice and flat and hand sew the opening closed. I like to use a drawing stitch, or ladder stitch, for closing the gap as you can't see it. Quilt Taffy have a great little tutorial on this method.

11. Make a pleat in the top straight edge of the pocket. I do this by finding the centre, and folding the fabric in 1/2" either side. The back edge of the pleat (where my finger is in the pic below) should be about 1".

12. Pin the pleat in place, then sew along the top edge to secure the pleat.

13. Now pin the pocket in place on the front of the skirt, and sew it in place (again sewing about 1/8 - 1/10" from the edge of the pocket). The stitching will be visible on the outside of the pocket, so choose a matching colour if you do not want it to be too obvious. I like the stitching on the outside, so I tend to stick with white thread.

All done! Now just sit back, and enjoy seeing your cute little number on a gorgeous little someone.

xx

Have yourself a merry little Christmas

Where oh where has this year gone, and what has been happening to all my time? Last thing I remember it was the start of October and I had a few little sewing projects on the boil, the we hit 'wedding season' again (including a lovely little holiday to New Zealand), not to mention chasing around my now crawling baby. Then all of a sudden it was December, and people were putting up trees, playing carols, and posting Santa photos on Facebook... and I was completely disorganised! 

I offer many apologies for being so neglectful to you, and here is a little catch up on what I have been up to of late.

The sewing has been going in peaks and troughs the last few months, but here's what has been happening:

I am loving these sweet little cuddly elephant toys, and have given them to new babies and as Christmas presents too. The awesome PDF pattern is available from Retro Mama's Etsy store. 

I have patched a few more baby quilts, and working on a bias binding free version, which is much easier, and gives a pretty nice result. Watch out for a tutorial on those babies next year.

And lastly, a wee stocking for our beautiful girl's first Christmas, pattern courtesy of Noodlehead. This was a pretty easy little pattern, though it took me forever as I kept putting off the hand embroidering of the name. This one taught me the valuable lesson of sometimes just follow the pattern, as I did my own thing and messed up the lining so had to do it twice.

The Christmas baking has been a little lower key this year than last, but the customary Strawberry and Rhubarb Jam and Russian tea cakes have of course been coming out of my kitchen hard and fast this month. 

We are hosting my family for our traditional Christmas Eve dinner this year, my first year as host, which will be lovely. We always have a big platter of prawns with Mum's seafood sauce for starters, then the big hot Christmas dinner, and if there is any room left some amazing sweet my sister has concocted. It's been our little tradition for years now, and is so nice because we then all get Christmas morning together too before heading off to our partners families for Christmas day. 

That is what it is all about after all. Being together. Sharing food and happiness with the ones you love most. 

And so, from our family to yours, may your days be merry and bright while you enjoy a safe and happy holiday season.

xx

Patchwork Baby Quilt Tutorial

As I am sure I have said before, it is baby season in our life at present, and I decided I was in need of a new challenge. With a friend's baby shower coming up, I decided to attempt making a small quilt for the baby to play on. With my Mum, the master quilter, on hand for advice, I was ready to begin, and I was quite elated at how the quilt turned out. I am a bit of a cheat as no actual hand quilting was involved, so this is a relatively easy little number to put together.

To make your own patchwork baby quilt (finished quilt measuring 92cm x 69cm or 36" x 27") you will need:

• 1 meter (1.5 yards) fabric for backing of quilt
• 75cm (1 yard) each of two other fabrics for the face of the quilt
• 1 meter (1.5 yards) of batting (we used 'Poly-down', a polyester, machine washable, non-allergenic batting available from quilt shops)
• 4 metres (4.5 yards) of bias binding tape to match your quilt
• cotton to match your fabrics
• Curved safety pins (from fabric shops)
• Masking tape

1. It's a good idea to wash, dry and iron all your fabric before you begin.

2. The quilt face is made up of 9 rectangles, 5 from one fabric and 4 from the other. Cut your pieces using a rotary cutter if you have one.

I wanted my finished quilt about 70cm x 90cm, so cut the blocks  32cm (12.5") x 25cm (9.5"), as we will include a 1/4" seam allowance.

3. Lay out the pieces in the pattern you would like them,

and then take the three pieces in each row, place them face to face and pin together. You should end up with three rows of three.

4. Using a 1/4" seam, sew the pieces together, then give a good iron.

5. Now place the rows face to face, pinning them in place, and then sew them together. Now you will have the completed face for the quilt.

6. Lay out the fabric for the backing of the quilt face down on a clean, flat surface and tape down the
edges with a little masking tape to secure.

If you like, you can spray the upward facing surface of the fabric with a quilt basting spray (available from fabric shops) which will leave the surface lightly tacky, and stop the batting moving around when you place it on.

  

7. Next we will lie the batting over the fabric and smooth it out. If using the spray, spray again before the next step.

8. Then lie the quilt top face up on top of the batting. The backing and the batting should overhang the edge of the face slightly as we haven't cut them to shape yet.

9. Now pin the three layers together. I used curved safety pins which make the job much easier, and pin all around the edge, along the seams and in the middle of each block.

10. Now we will sew along the seams of the quilt face to secure it in place. It is best to use a walking foot on your machine for this, as it helps feed the fabric through and prevents it bunching up.

11. Sew right along the seam lines of both the horizontal and vertical seams.

12. I was also wanting diagonal quilting on the face of the quilt. For this part, run a long line of masking tape from the corner of each square right across to the other corner and through to the other side of the quilt.

Make all the lines in one direction, then sew along the tape edge.

When all the lines are done, remove the tape and repeat for all the squares in the other direction.

13. Now run a seam an 1/8" in from the entire border of the quilt, then remove all the pins (if you haven't already done so). Don't worry about this seam, it will be hidden under the binding.

14. Next, trim up all the sides so you are left with a nice neat, straight edges.

15. Now pin the bottom edge of the binding just under half it's width form the quilt edge (eg. if it is 1" thick, pin it a little less than 1/2" form the edge). 

For a nice finish, use mitred corners. 

(see 'Sew to Speak' for how to do this). 

16. Sew the binding down by sewing along the top fold of the binding, then flip it over the top and pin to the backing.

I then machine sew the binding down from this side too (because I am lazy), and to do this you sew it from the front side, right along the bottom of the binding, and this captures the other side too. For good tips on attaching the bias binding by machine see 'Little Chicken's No Swearing Method'.

This method didn't leave as nice a finish as it would if you hand sew it, which is what I will do in future. 

17. You are finished! Now sit back, and enjoy the thrill of having made something lovely, all the while thinking of someone you treasure and the little someone about to bless their lives!

xx