Looking back...

What happened?

One minute I was here, the next I seemed to only blink and two weeks have gone by.

They were full weeks though.

There were cousins for overnight stays, taking the number of kids in the house to six, there was a road trip to my parents (east of the city) and the man of the house's parents (to the south-west of the city).

Hats were made, presents finished and wrapped and dresses sewn.

Family visited from interstate, a lovely niece came (and is still here) allowing us all to enjoy her company.

Somewhere in there was also Christmas, New year and a 50th wedding anniversary celebration.

Phew - now it's time to stop and do the things we love as a family; go swimming, see a few shows, ride our bikes, visit the zoo and hang out in the backyard.

I will admit I didn't get all three 'Feliz' dresses finished for Christmas Day, but I came to the realisation that given my mum was making them 'Dorothy' dresses, they were unlikely to be worn. (and I would have been right!)

They wore them for the first time yesterday, at their Grandparent's 50th wedding celebration.

So I will leave you with something I saw a lot of yesterday, and will for days to come I am sure - small girls twirling joyfully.

I hope 2010 provides you with new and exciting experiences, and the heady rush you get from twirling too much.

Good enough for royalty

The list is not shrinking, instead it is, well, morphing I guess.

Some things that were on the list no are longer, some things that never were there have been made; some things that were on there still are.

Case in point, these crowns.

Once saw them I knew there was no way I could not make them.

The tutorial on Juicy Bits makes it easy, the hardest part is choosing the colours.

The felt came from the Steiner store in Kew - lovely wool stuff of course in the most gorgeous colours.

Sparkly buttons from an old pair of PJ's spotty ones from Spotlight.

That's three more gifts ready to be wrapped.

Sew are you coming??

Somehow I almost missed the information going around the blogs about the big blog meet that Sheridan has been organising for May next year, aptly named 'Sew It Together".

I know, I know, you are just coping with getting through the Christmas slog, but pop your head up from your machine for a few minutes and go and check out the details here.

(photo from here)

If you'd like to meet up with other crafty bloggers, many of whom you may already 'know' from comments left on each others blogs, then come along and create, chat and share a meal.

I don't think the drinks with sewing above (see the machine hiding in there among the bottles and glasses!) are quite what Sheridan had in mind, but it should be lots of fun.

The road to Bethlehem is long!

I realised that while the nativity has been set up here I have neglected to fill those of you in blogland in on the progress to date.

Well, the main folk, Mary and Joseph, both got hair and also shrouds/veils and then they were ready to go.

Joseph had me stumped for a while as I wanted he and Mary to look a little less 'polished' than the kings and nothing seemed quite right for a while.

Then I found some red cloth with a slightly coarse weave and secured a small ring of rafia around his crown with a few stitches.

All the kings received a gift to pass on to the small babe; a decorative silver box,

a golden chalice;

and a gold pouch.

And an angel appeared overnight, all floating fabric and whispy ethereal hair.

They are now all set up, though their surrounds are changing daily - I'll include pics of this soon.

There is a backdrop of blue crushed panne velvet with gold stars on it and a small wooden stable has been made, though it is yet to be lined with the many twigs I have collected for the purpose.

Sadly the shepherds are still bald (not enough hours in the day at the moment!) and the oversized sheep has not joined the party, but I am OK with this as it gives me more to go on with.

It really has been a most enjoyable project to work on and I am looking forward to watching it grow along with our girls in the years to come.

My Creative Space

Is filled with frills.

The present making has been set aside while I tackle the Christmas dresses.

After much deliberation I decided not to go with the three dresses I wanted to make, two of which were not twirly.

Instead I am going with the current "twirly' trend of our two three-year-olds and all the girls will be getting a Feliz dress, the ultimate in twirlability.

Pictured above, the online sewing guide put together by Trillium, brilliant - I don't know if I could have made this dress without it as the instructions are scant, at best.
Thanks to Carolyn for putting me onto it.

The pattern itself that I picked up from here.

Completed underdress panel with the frills that will be down the back.
The most divine vintage fabric with a little girl and her dog going about their daily chores that came to me via a friend of my Dad.

Head on over to Kirtsy's new digs to see who else is playing along in the final creative space for this year.

Blowin' in the wind

More of the Christmas gifts that I have been squirreling away.

These are called 'wind wands' and are another great idea from the book featured in this post.

They are super-quick to make and very inexpensive but I think will be well-loved.

I was hoping to show them blowing in the wind - but there wasn't any, so I will leave you with this scungy photo!

I figure the elaborate dancing concerts that take place on our deck will be that little bit safer with these, rather than the traditional 'twirling' ribbons they have been using.

A series of pointy sticks and two twirling three-year-olds along with a toddler is not my idea of safety at its best!

Something for me

In among the Christmas crafting I volunteered for a friend at her local church to run a couple of crafty activities for people who were there attending a craft market.

We made fabric flower brooches and a few people also made stencilled/painted T-shirts as gifts.

It was lots of fun and got quite busy as people wearing their flowers made their way around the market, others saw them and came to make one for themselves.

I love it when someone who doesn't consider themselves capable of making something sits down and finds they can, and walks off proudly wearing their efforts.

I even managed to steal away for a minute or two and check out a few of the stalls, and make a little purchase just for me (for a change!).

Given my well known addiction to all-things-babushka there was no way this little lady was not coming home with me.

I've been looking for a brooch to wear with this plain white shirt and my new little friend is perfect.

She was made by Sarah - check out her blog for details of the market she will be at in Carlton this Monday.

Thanks Sarah - she's just what I needed, and my girls are already eyeing her off!