Mareena for me

I have a confession. This is actually the second Mareena top that I've made for myself. It's hard to get a photograph of me wearing something since I take most of the photos around here. That is a funny thought considering Col is more knowledgeable with a camera. It's also funny that I always dislike the photos that he takes of me. Or perhaps it's more that I just don't like seeing photos of myself. I had the choice of two photos. One where I'm smiling and look happy or another where I have a horrid expression on my face. Either way just look at the top, ok?

The pattern is Mareena from Cinderella*Zwergen*Mode. I got mine from my "dealer" aka Crafty Mamas. The fabric is stella knit in New Cherry and the sleeves are pieces of Asian inspired print knits. I bought them as a remnant pack from Sheree's Alchemy a while back.

I like the pattern, but I don't think raglan tops are the best design for my body. It is very comfy though!

Nice as pie

I made apple pie today because we were having guests for dinner. (photo taken before baking!)

It was made with apples that we picked in Bilpin the previous week. Will proudly told his grandparents that he picked those apples at the orchard.

We also had a yummy piece of slow cooked veal for dinner. I didn't take a photo of it because really, it didn't look that spectacular, but it tasted so nice. Before you start jumping up and down and telling me about how veal is bad. This veal is raised on a biodynamic farm where it's allowed to free range with its mother.

If you are concerned at all about how the meat you eat is raised, and you are in Sydney, you have to check out Feather & Bone. Feather & Bone have been doing their thing for a while, and I have to admit that I'm a bit late coming to the party. Not late as in caring about what I eat, but late in buying from them. Not only do they offer excellent produce, but their customer service is fabulous. I showed up there on Thursday not having placed an order to see if they had anything on hand. They were super busy, but still took the time to help me and didn't make me feel like a nuisance. I could rave on and on about them, but I think their website does a better job than I ever could.

Rainy day sewing

The weather has turned cool in Sydney, and I've done the clearing out of the kids clothes. In the process I discovered that we had no winter pajamas that fit the kids! I couldn't just go buy some when I have a plentiful stash of fabrics and my trusty Kwik Sew 3234 pattern. So I spent the past day sewing up some PJs.

For Mollie I chose some knits that I've had in the stash for a while, but couldn't see myself using for her everyday clothes. My selection of knits for Will isn't as big, so I choose the Oogas and some of my new to the stash JNY knit fabric from Sweden (via Crafty Mamas!). I had originally purchased the JNY fabric with a different intention which is why I didn't have enough fabric for the sleeves. I also made the pajamas a size too large in hopes that we can get two winters wear out of them.

Mollie wanted to take the photos in the kitchen. The kids were doing action shots. So you get one "nice" photo and one "action" photo because they are kind of funny.







I still have a few more things cut out to sew like a couple pants to be dyed rainbow (1 done, 1 to be sewn), leggings for Moo (we have a lack of leggings too), a Mareen top for me, and because Moo wanted a matching top, a Mareena top for her.

Slacker

Yup, that's me. I hadn't managed to photograph anything. Hadn't really sewn much in the past couple of weeks. I think I was recovering from the party stress. Perhaps it was just that busy-ness of the last week of school. But I've made up for it in the past 72 hours.

On Thursday I made a Caroline skirt for Cass' littlest.


I also made Sheridan a LoveChirp PimpiCuff. It was her birthday on Wednesday, and at SIT she mentioned that she liked the PimpiCuffs I had made for the sample swap.

Oh I love my comfy pants

I'm sitting here on the lounge in my trackies (sweatpants/track pants for non-Aussies). Today was a big day, Mollie & Will's birthday party at Fagan Park. I've been doing bits and pieces for the party for the past two weeks. I made the rainbow Happy Birthday Mollie & Will! bunting which my photographer didn't shoot. And yesterday I spent ALL day baking. I love to bake, so I didn't mind. I baked up the rainbow cookies, my choc chip cookies, ANZAC biscuits, 64 cupcakes, and caramel popcorn. I totally recommend the caramel popcorn recipe. It was a big hit at the party, and Col & Moll really liked it. If you are in Australia and want corn syrup, USA Foods sells Karo Corn Syrup. You could probably use glucose syrup in place of the corn syrup. The corn syrup helps to prevent crystallisation when making the caramel.

My photographer did take a photo of the cupcakes


Sorry for being so quiet last week. Last week was a big change for me with starting back at work. Work isn't hard (it's actually great), but after being at home for 5 years, it's different to get myself dressed and out of the house to be with other adults for a few hours. I was also sick last week, AND it was my birthday. But wait there's more...we had a mouse in our house. Not just a quiet, sneaky mouse, but a crazy climbing mouse that would climb the blinds in MY bedroom! That dreadful creature also gnawed the bottom of my laundry room door and my front door! So there. I have lots of good excuses.

I haven't forgotten that I missed my blogiversary. I want to do something for it, but I couldn't contemplate making anything for it over the past few weeks.