Blogtoberfest Day 31 - Thanks for hanging in there with me

Today was an awesome mail day.  The parcel guy left these on my doorstep this morning.

Lark had these on special last week.  I couldn't resist buying up.  Some will go to Moo for a holiday present.  Some will be stashed for future presents.

When I waved my friends off after the Thermomix demo, I saw the white envelope that any Ottobre Design subscriber looks forward to receiving.


Then when I pulled out the envelope, I saw more mail underneath.  Within that bundle was this...

It was a gift from Cherie because I sent her some velours for telling me the flavour of the Japanese Kit Kat bar.   Very unexpected and totally sweet!  I'm not sure that I will share with the kidlets.  Well, except for the fact they saw them and will expect to have at least one.  Thank you Cherie!

So thanks for going on this Blogtoberfest adventure with me.  For one lucky reader I'm going to buy you a metre of fabric from Crafty Mamas.

Why Crafty Mamas?  Well, it's where I buy most of my fabric, and Lisa's customer service is fabulous.   It's a good time to win a metre of fabric because Lisa just received her Stenzo shipment.   I'll pick a random winner from the comments on this post next Monday.  (for the record this isn't sponsored in any way.  I want to give away a metre of fabric, and Crafty Mamas is my favourite place to shop.)

Here's Mollie modeling her Amelie dress.

Blogtoberfest Day 30 - Scraping the Bottom

Nothing exciting to say today.  I'm tired after trying to get two excited girls to go to sleep last night.  The girls didn't go to sleep until midnight!  Moo was ready for bed by 6pm tonight.  The kids also ran around like lunatics in the yard with the sprinkler going, so that would have worn them out that bit more.  No lectures about water usage, we have a rainwater tank. 

I spent most of the day tidying.  I'm having a Thermomix demo tomorrow.  I'm only having the demo, so I can get my Thermo Server.  My friends know this.  They don't feel any pressure, and we get fed lunch.  Because I was trying to organise the house and minimise the chaos created by the kids, I didn't grab my camera at all today.  Although my friend did pop over to take some photos of the girls, Moo, B & C, in some of my creations.  I was secretly hoping that C would send me some of the photos.  So instead you can have this photo of Will showing off a Lego creation.  We love Lego until we step on it.

Blogtoberfest Day 29 - Sweetness!

Weeks ago I signed Mollie and a friend up for a children's cooking class at Sweetness The Patisserie.  The class was part of Crave - Sydney International Food Festival.  I always look in the festival guide when it comes out.  When I saw this class, I KNEW that I had to book a spot for Miss Moo. 

Here are the girls in uniform.


I don't have any photos of them creating because I left them to it.  The patisserie isn't really big enough for parents and kids, so I went shopping while the girls learned and created.  

Here they are waiting for their rainbow shortbread to be bagged.  I tasted a tiny piece of Moo's shortbread.  It was delicious, and definitely short!


Beautiful and delicious!

I have a confession. I work nearby.  I can easily pop into Sweetness on a work day, but I don't.  It's not because I don't want to, but that it's counterproductive for the weight loss project.

It is worthwhile mentioning that Sweetness also sell some ingredients that aren't easily sourced other places.  A while back I blogged about Fiori di Sicilia.  Gena sells it!  So yes, you can get it in Australia.  She also sells the divine Boyajian citrus oils and dried Montmorency cherries.

Blogtoberfest Day 28 - Don't Drink and Blog

Col and I drank this with dinner, a nice big steak.  I can't be assed writing a blog post now. 

I can tell you that I made the most delicious pie/tart for my friend's birthday today.  I highly recommended it.   I would have taken a photo, but there was NONE left by the time I remembered.  Guess that means it was good.

Blogtoberfest Day 27 - For my Angel

Mollie spotted these glittery iron on wings a while back.  She's been asking me to make something with them.  Then I bought this cloud print knit, and an idea was born.


I chose to make a tunic from the Farbenmix Amelie pattern.  This is a super simple pattern.  There are no sleeves, but at the same time the shoulder is covered.  It is really perfect for hot days in Sydney.  I also made a size 146/152 because Moo is just a shade over 140, and I was worried she'd outgrow the top too soon.  She'll be able to wear it as a dress now.


Wings on the back

Blogtoberfest Day 26 - Daisy Skirt

I picked up my overlocker today.  It's good because I was starting to get withdrawals from not making any clothes.  I've had this skirt cut out for Moo since August. 

Pattern:  Farbenmix Caroline
Caroline is a cute tiered skirt with leggings.  The leggings come in three lengths.
Fabrics:  Mad Sky Daisy print for the skirt and Stella in lime for the shorts.


The leggings underneath


Close up of the gathering

I'm not sure if you can see the difference in the gathering between the top tier of gathering and the lower one?  The top one looks nicer, little gathers with even spacing.   With the bottom tier, I made a couple of mistakes and was too lazy to fix them.  So what is the difference?

For both tiers I used my ruffler foot, but with the upper tier I made sure the gathering stitches were on the seam line.  With the bottom tier the gathering stitches were too far from where I was sewing the seam because I'd forgotten that I'd cut my pieces with a 6mm seam allowance. (sometimes I use a 1cm seam allowance.)  The gathering stitches were over 1cm from the edge, so too far where the seam was stitched.

My second mistake was that I didn't use my walking foot when I sewed together the middle and bottom tier. I just did it on the overlocker.  So the two factors combined gave me uneven gathering that looks really flat.  When you use a walking foot, it doesn't compress and push the gathered piece as much as a standard presser foot.  It is also important to make sure your gathered piece is on top, so that you can adjust and make sure the gathers stay even.

Blogtoberfest Day 25 - New socks

It's all Mary's fault.  After I posted my rainbow socks, she pointed me in the direction of these socks.


Hopefully I'll have some crafting to share with you soon.  Tomorrow I go back to Chatswood to get my overlocker.   I sew so many things out of knit fabrics that I've really missed it.  I really want to make myself a few short sleeve t-shirts, but can't!