Ready for the double wide

At work I received a Snuggie. 

It was part of a new product launch.  Sometimes we get promotional sorts of gifts.  Anyway, owning a Snuggie makes me feel like I'm ready to move into a double-wide.  Perfect for chain smoking on the lounge while watching tv. 

A West Elm catalogue in my mailbox at home today.  Now that's more my style.


I bought these sweet pillows from there a few weeks ago.  I keep telling Moo to stay off of them.  Somehow she thinks the silk cushions are just for her.


I haven't been blogging much because it would be terribly boring.  You know, stuff like I woke up at 5am to go walking or I went to boxing class.  I've been working on my self improvement project.  So far I've lost about this much weight


When my sister FINALLY came to visit us, I made her a shirt, so I have done a tiny bit of sewing.  Next up is sewing for me because I desperately need tops.

Peace, love and happiness

A friend of Mollie's had a birthday back in December.  I made her a top.  I really wanted to make an effort to make a gift because Moo's friend was moving up to Queensland.

I used an old favourite, the Farbenmix Antonia pattern.  I didn't have enough of the pink daisy fabric for the whole top, so I used a matching green knit for the back. The sleeves and "ribbing" are a rainbow stripe knit from Crafty Mamas (love those Gala stripe knits!).   I also put a Love Bus embroidery on the front.  I enlarged it, but I think I should have kept it the standard large size.  Unfortunately you can't buy that embroidery design any more.

Front


Back

(ignore those shadowy spots.  there is something wrong with my little camera)

Back to school prep

I'm lucky in a way.  My kids go to a Steiner school.  Our school supplies the children with what they need.  Yes, I do pay a stationery fee, but I don't mind that.  It's easier than rushing around doing the shopping.  We also have no uniform which some people think can be difficult, but since I grew up not having to wear a uniform to school, it just seems normal to me.  This year I did have one requirement to fulfil.  Mollie needed a new lunch bag.  The bag i made her was falling apart on the handle.  It lasted 4 years.  Much better than a lot of store bought lunch bags. 

Over on Crafty Mamas Dani made a lunch bag using this tutorial, and I thought it would make a good one for Moo too.  The only thing I did differently was to use some Insulbrite between the outer and lining, and I used webbing for the handles.  I'm hoping the webbing will be really hard wearing.

Spreading the rainbow love

December and January have been filled with all the usual school holiday activities - lounging about the house, getting together with friends, a bit of swimming and a few outings.  I had a few requests for rainbow skirts and figured since I wasn't working while the kids were on holidays that I'd do a few.  I also had a couple of baby presents that were overdue.

In the end I ended up making 9 skirts, and it tested my patience.  My friends have told me that I am not to make them any more as they don't want to listen to me whinge about them.  I like making them, but the process is always so drawn out, and I never allow myself to work on my own projects when I have work to do for others.  When I get to the end of the process and I have all these pretty skirts, I want to do it again....just not for a while.  Don't tell my friends that I said that, ok?

One of the skirts

The skirts are going all over Australia, and two are going to the UK!

I also made some leggings to go with a few of the skirt orders plus a pair for Miss Moo.


The two blankets that I made for gifts have been sent off.  I was in such a rush to get them posted that I didn't take photos.  The other four (excuse the creases they were sitting around folded up)....

Happy New Year and Yummy Food!

So I'm hoping 2013 is going to be a good for the house of willow & moo.  I'm also going to attempt to get back into the swing of blogging.   Everything is a bit slow on the craft front here as I psych myself up to do a big batch of dyeing.  After that I should get some time to sew whatever I want for me and the kids although I've just realised that I haven't blogged a t-shirt that I made as a birthday party present in December.

For me food and crafting are intertwined.  Back in October my friend, Cath, picked me up to go to our craft weekend away.   She told me about these organic strawberries that she bought on Old Nothern Road in Dural.   All of my friends know that I like to eat organic food.  She also said they were the best strawberries that she had ever tasted, so I had to investigate.  Cath gave me the website off of the box, and that was the beginning of a beautiful relationship with Common 2 Us.

I discovered that I'd been driving by their farm for a while.  I remember seeing the sign out front, but being sort of shy I wouldn't have just driven up the driveway to check it out.  Borja, his lovely girlfriend - Soraya and other friends are trying to create a community organic garden which is essentially like the community support agriculture schemes in the US. 

These photos were taken a few days before Christmas.  We were at the farm today and everything had grown so much in the 2 weeks that we'd been away.

Will picking and eating some strawberries

You can still get strawberries if you go to the farm and pick them yourself.  The plants are at the end of fruiting, so a lot of the berries are small, but you can still find some delicious treasures amongst the plants as I did today!

I look at these zucchini plants in awe.  Yes, I know they are supposed to be easy to grow, but remember I'm too lazy to manage a veggie garden.


This week we got tomatoes off of these plants!  I can't wait to taste them!

There are several different varieties of tomatoes too.  I'm hanging to eat some sliced with basil, bocconcini, and olive oil.

Here's Borja picking the lettuce for our veggie box.  You can also see pumpkin vines behind him, capsicum and eggplant.


I was really taken with the purple eggplant plants.  The have these beautiful flowers and dark purple stems.


Will wanted to pick oranges.  They make really good juice!


There is a small shop set up at the farm, so you can pop up there to buy things.  More than likely if you want something that is grown on the farm, someone will go harvest it freshly for you.


I think my post sounds a bit like an advertisement, but it isn't.  These guys are just doing something that I believe in, and I want to support them.  They are always happy to have visitors if you want to have a look, 3 Wyoming Road, Dural.

Tees for me

I went away with my craft group back in October.  It was hard to slum it at Pearl Beach, but someone had to do it.  I managed to sew 4 tops for me and some leggings and a hoodie for Will's ninja outfit.  No photos of the ninja outfit.  It's stealthy.  No one seems to know where it is now that Halloween is over.

Me and Will in his pjs.  The top is an Ottobre pattern, 02/07 #4 in black cotton/spandex (Stella) knit.


Then I made the Cinderella*Zwergen*Mode Mareena pattern in three different fabrics with different embellishments. 

In Hilco knits, a print knit for the body and campante strips for the sleeves and binding.


In black Stella knit with a silver glitter tree iron-on.  Iron-on was cut out with my Silhouette cutter.


In charcoal marle stella with an Urban Threads embroidery

Hello there! Still with me?

It's been a bit of a roller coaster here in the house of willow & moo.  Craft weekends, redundancy, death in the family, visit from family, and a new job.  Lots of ups and downs which just didn't leave me with energy to blog.  I have managed a bit of sewing and definitely plenty of baking.

Back in July I went down to Victoria to get together with my Crafty Mamas friends.  I spent the weekend eating and sewing and eating some more.  I sewed for the kids.

Farbenmix Unella Blomma shorts for Moo



Ottobre tops, skirt and shorts. 


Farbenmix Roxy dresses and Ottobre tops and shorts



Ottobre 301 t-shirt


Farbenmix Tess skirt


Now I have to get someone take photos of the t-shirts I made for myself on my recent weekend away.