Dancing Queen

Last night Mollie had a "disco" party. All week she had been asking me to make her a dress for the party. She wanted something shiny. Luckily I had some panne velvet stashed away here. I had two different pieces, and Moo choose the blue one. (excuse the mud stain on the knee of her leggings. She'd been playing out in the backyard.)

I was going to use the panne velvet on the neck as "ribbing", but it was a pain to iron in half. While I was ironing, I remembered that I had some glittery blue fold over elastic. Thankfully it matched the dress.

I also did a lettuce edge hem on the dress and long sleeves because it's faster! I really wanted to use metallic thread in the rolled hem and in the past I've had issues with thread breaking. This time I had different thread (Gutterman), and it worked like a charm.

But we needed more bling, so out came the Silhouette SD. Moo chose a swirly shooting star, so I cut out that and a bunch of other stars. On the front of the dress we put the shooting star and little stars. Around the hem of the dress more stars.

Moo had a lovely time at the party, but I think Will had an even better. He was the star of the night with his crazy dancing.

It's a small world

I won the first issue of Mollie Makes a few weeks ago.

I won it from the lovely Peta of Tins and Needles. And I'm not waxing lyrical when I say Peta is lovely because I actually have the pleasure of knowing Peta "in real life". Our daughters used do to swimming together ages ago (like when Miss Moo was 3 or 4). And we never spoke, mainly because I don't just chat with people I don't know. Then a few years back we ran into each other at Stitches N Craft, so we had a chat. And I told Peta that another crafty woman was amongst us at swimming. Now we all hang out at craft group once a month.

Isn't this apple cozy sweet? Peta crocheted it as a gift along with the mag.

Playing catch up

Ok, Mom is on her way home as I type this. I never really had the time to sit down, edit photos, and concentrate to write some text. I bought some books back in June. Although I bought them from Amazon, and they would be shipped for free to my mom's house, I had them sent here. I had used up all of my alloted luggage space with the Silhouette and rolls of heat transfer flock.



The Tex-Mex Grill and Backyard Barbacoa Cookbook by Rob Walsh - if my ramblings about Tex Mex food have piqued your interest, I have to totally recommend Robb Walsh's books. I also have The Tex-Mex Cookbook. The books are not only filled with great recipes, but so much information about the history of Tex-Mex food.

The Hidden Gifts of the Introvert Child by Marti Olsen Laney. I own her other book, The Introvert Advantage: How to Thrive in an Extrovert World, which I found really helpful in understanding myself and why I do the things I do. Miss Moo shows definite signs of being introverted like her parents, so I thought I would get this book to see if there any tips to make her path in life easier. I have to say that I keep seeing so much of myself again as I'm reading this book. The biggest revelation for me regarding these books is that Introverts really do have a different brain chemistry to Extroverts. There is a real biochemical difference. It's not something that is just "learned" and can be changed.

In Search of Total Perfection - Heston Blumenthal. Heston, oh, Heston. To be honest I hadn't paid much attention to him then one day I saw his Fantastical Feasts series on SBS. I just love the way he approaches food. I don't have an itching desire to make his molecular gastronomy creations in my kitchen, but that burger that he made on In Search of Perfection and then the Masterchef contestants had to create Heston's burger in a challenge made me buy this book.

PatternReview - 1000 Clever Sewing Shortcuts and Tips. I haven't really had a chance to read through it yet. I thought it might have some interesting tips and I"m always looking for ways to make sewing quicker, smarter, better.

Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunch - Melt in your Mouth Cookies by Alice Medrich. I don't own any of Alice's other books. She is a well know author of dessert cookbooks, and I am a lover of dessert cookbooks. I also love cookies, and I thought I'd add this to my collection. I haven't had a chance to read it or bake anything from it.

The Bon Appetit - Fast Easy Fresh Cookbook, ed. Barbara Fairchild. I'm a long time subscriber to Bon Appetit, and this book was listed for 13.98 (price seems to have gone up) which I thought was really good value for such a huge cookbook, so I just added it to my order. I've had a quick flick, and there seems to be lots of yummy recipes. I guess there has to be some winners in that book that big!

For some cheeky devils

We've been super busy here with our visitor, but I've managed to sneak in a bit of sewing and embroidery. I really wanted to make a couple of shirts for my cousin's boys. They (really my cousin's wife!) were kind enough to send some presents over for Will & Moo, so I wanted to send something back with my mom.

Pattern: SCKL Imke
Fabrics: Stella knit (from Crafty Mamas)
Embroidery: Little Devil by Jolijou

I also did a couple of embroideries for my mom of a wire fox terrier. I only managed to do two because the design is 35000 stitches and took forever to stitch out!

And I finally managed to piece together the backing for my quilt. I have the wadding and now I need to cut the binding. Then I need to face up to sandwiching and pinning. I have everything here that I need. If only I had the energy for it. The constant trips everywhere are very tiring for this introvert!

Who needs clothes?

Well, apparently my mother does. But she was kind enough to give up some of that luggage space to bring me this...

It sat around for a couple of days then I finally decided to give it a go. I cut some paper for my first go (no photo, well, I did take a photo, but it wasn't that exciting as it was a white piece of paper with stars cut out). Next up I made some iron-on velours (more luggage space was taken up by rolls of heat transfer flock)

I couldn't believe how easy it was to do. Love it!