pictures of lately

I've been trying to get around to blogging without a lot of success lately - school holidays and general, you know, stuff. So here's a bunch of pictures with a few words. No particular order, just how they came out of iPhoto.

This one turned six. He insists that overnight he became unable to fit into quite a few of his clothes.

I've been learning the basics of grading patterns up in size, because my sister-in-law wanted a Washi Dress and we sure owe her big time for loads of boy-looking-after lately.

Clem had a party with a bunch of little school friends at home. He wanted me to make him a Miffy cake, which I think he may have had every year since he turned one. Dear boy, I would make you a Miffy cake every year as long as I live, if you asked for it.

The party was very, very noisy, except when we offered large bowls of strawberries and blueberries. Seriously. Quieter than cake or honey crackles. Impressive.

Big boys had fun with party balloons.

The baby chicks hatched on the day of Clem's party. Even when this one was just fresh out of the egg I thought something was not right with its eyes.

I am fairly certain it was blind, poor dear. It got along okay huddling under the mamas for a couple of days. Andy gave it a name - Jerome - which was probably asking for trouble. As the other chicks became more adventurous and the mothers walked around with them more, they sensed Jerome was not robust. They turned on him. It was very sad, but quick. I picked him up, held him, Andy made sure he was not suffering and we buried him. Luckily this was when the boys were all at school. We told them what happened but I am glad they did not see it. Life and death in the backyard.

I made this 'Gathering Apron' by Sew Liberated, essentially as a sample for the shop but also because I think it's adorable and I totally want it for myself. It's in natural linen, which really this pattern just begs for. I had plans to do a really corny photoshoot with me wearing it and a bunch of baby chicks peeping out of the big pocket, but it never happened.

The rest of the chicks are thriving. Out of twelve eggs there are six surviving chicks which isn't a great hatch rate, but never mind. We are suspecting we have two roosters and three hens here, and the one that my mum and dad's chook hatched is also a girl (fingers crossed). These photos were taken about a week ago. The chicks are already a whole lot bigger again and have a lot more feather development.

Jumping to grab food from its mum.

Plomp. Look at that little wing! I could watch the chicks just about all day.

This scary, dangerous gum tree that has been overhanging out backyard is in the process of being removed. At long last. Yay. Will think no more of difficult process it has taken to get there.

I found a skink in our laundry. The laundry skink. I love the way they shape themselves to a surface: a rock, a hand. Smooth and slinky, now a garden skink.

Well. That was random, as Jasper would say.

- Jane x

a 12 year old! (and a very insistent 5 year old)

Well this dear glowing face turned 12 last week. Charlie is much loved by his youngest brother, who insisted on taking his own pocket money to Haighs to buy Charlie some chocolate as a gift.

Charlie loves to draw and I bought him 'Drawing and Painting Imaginary Animals' by Carla Sonheim which is a simply delightful and inspiring book. The bedroom he shares with Jasper features some fabulous wall cracks that, as the book demonstrates, can be wonderful starting points for all kinds of illustrations!

He also asked for, and received, more Tintin books. I think I have talked him into letting me cut and style his hair like Tintin for Book Week at school this year :)

Charlie is a happy soul, enjoys his own company and doesn't ask for much. Which is fortunate really because he has two very squeaky wheels for younger brothers. Clem has been pestering me incessantly for new pyjamas ever since he laid eyes on the fabric he is wearing above, in our shop. And so, during quiet moments at the shop, on Charlie's birthday, I found myself sewing pyjamas for Clem (sorry Charlie). He put them on as soon as he saw them (after school on Friday, in the shop) and wore them non-stop until mid Saturday afternoon. Pestering + appreciation = happy Clem + happy Mama. And a happy 5 year old means a happier whole family, really.

The printed knit is organic cotton/spandex by Lillestoff and the stripe is some Farbenmix from my stash. Top pattern - Ottobre Best T-shirts, legs from Growing Up Sew Liberated, a rough combination of size 2 width and size 4 length with added seam allowance and cuffs. I just love soft, stretchy, forgiving knits! And I do wish I could rock a pair of stripey leggings like he does.

- Jane x

Yep, I embroidered

I felt like a bit of soothing hand stitching and I wanted to try out some beautiful embroidery thread we ordered in for the shop. So yes, I decided to embellish my Linen Esme Top with a little crossed embroidery stitch.

The thread actually has a lovely subtle variation in colour as it goes along (I hesitate to use the 'ombre' word which is everywhere but I don't even know how to pronounce... omber? ombray? ombra? ormb?). It's hard to see here but because I did the bottom of the cross stitches in one go and then went back the other way over the top, sometimes the top and bottom of the cross have a pretty contrast.

I realised one of the things I love about the Esme Top so much is that the sleeved are bias cut, which gives them a lovely drape. Such a nice detail.

In case you are wondering about the necklace, it's this adorable happy sloth I got from Etsy here. A couple of weeks ago I was feeling majorly stressed and, you know, pulled in a thousand directions at once and not on top of any of it, so naturally, I was hit by a primal urge to buy something pretty for me! I'm fairly good at containing that urge lately but oh, sometimes, I give in....

We've had a heap of short weeks lately which have been a killer, what with Easter and a long weekend and a 'pupil free day' on Monday of the last week of term so it has been so hard to cram in all the work I've needed to get done. Plus Andy is deep in rehearsals for the biggest new show his company has ever done so he's hardly home. And, um, we're trying to get the shop open, and now it's two weeks of school holidays and, ack... so on that pupil free day I took the boys to my favourite haven of the Botanic Gardens and we had some welcome fresh air and sunshine, which I invite you to share. Breathe ..... :)

- Jane x

Linen Esme

Another Sew Liberated Esme Top!

I have been wearing my first one so much - it's so handy for this transitional autumn weather - that I thought I should sew up another. This time in more of the lovely natural linen that my parents brought me back from Lithuania, and that I used for my Washi Dress. (I think there was four metres, and there's still probably a metre left!)

I made the bib lining and back neck facing out of some leftover Anna Maria Horner voile. The only alteration I made was to raise the back neckline a bit.

More mismatched buttons as solution to indecision. I was intending on adding a little embroidery to the bib in a running or cross stitch around the edge but I'm not sure now. Best left plain or could it use a little more decoration?

And on a real person. Hmm there's a bit of front gaping there. I think it's more to do with my button placement than anything. I might fix that with just a little hand-tacking, since I think the buttons will always be done up. The linen is slightly stiff and scratchy right now but I know from my Washi Dress that it will soften up beautifully with a few more washes.

In the interests of reality-checking, here's a different view of that terribly picturesque rustic background:

It's the door of our falling-down shed. And I was standing in possum poo. Glamorous, non?

During last week, the boys had sports day (across two days) at school. It's always rather delightful and for some reason I even get a little choked up when the teams all do their chants and cheers at the end.

Guess what colour our team is :)  And we won!

- Jane x

Sew Liberated Esme Top

I loved this pattern as soon as I laid eyes on it. It's the new Esme Top by Sew Liberated.

With the loose fit I just made up a straight size 12 without a muslin. Actually it's quite roomy and I could possibly even go down a size if I made it again.

Now, who can relate to this: I get up on a Saturday morning and finish sewing a garment while in my pyjamas. Have quick shower. Throw on new garment and feel pleased. Grab husband for quick photo shoot. Realise have done nothing with hair. Hair rather lets down photoshoot. Don't want to appear vain and waste time fixing hair and asking for more photos. Post blah hair photos. Seriously, sometimes I do something nice with my hair. Just never, apparently, for blog photos.

Anyway, you might like to see the Roman who has been hanging about our house all day. He even went to the supermarket.

And what does a Roman keep in the folds of his toga?

Why, jelly crystals, of course!

Want to know a bit more about the Esme Top pattern?  So glad you asked. It was a fairly easy sew, with a slightly tricky but clever way of joining the front & back facings and shoulders all in one. The paper pattern comes with rather brief instructions and there is a video tutorial online for more detailed help. Now, I have a severe lack of patience with video tutorials. They're just not my thing. I would rather skim over a bunch of diagrams. However, I imagine some people really like this way of learning.

I would have preferred the written instructions to be perhaps half as long again since I found them just a little too brief to use without the video. By the time I came to attaching the cuffs, for which there is really barely any written instruction, I just winged it because I am too impatient to sit through an entire instructional video. Nevertheless, I really like the end result. There is a small errata in the written instructions and they forgot to add the sizing chart so if you do buy this pattern, make sure you visit the video section on the website, even if just for those corrections.

Oh, and another thing: the fabric requirements just gives the amount for narrow (quilting cotton width) fabric and it seems quite a bit: 2 & 1/2 yards (about 2.25m). I used fabric that was 130cm wide and eeked it out of 1.5m. In the end I had to piece together the back facing from two halves but you'd have even more success using less fabric if you used a different fabric for the front and back bib lining/facings.

The pattern suggests hand-tacking the back facing down but I chose to stitch it down; I think it suits the look of this top anyway. If I made it again I would probably cut the back neckline up a bit higher, for personal preference.

And this is what happens when a Libran has to choose from her extensive vintage button stash... three different 'matching' buttons.

And I might need another whole post to show you my 'new' old Singer buttonholer!

Not to mention the post I really need to write about the shop I am about to open with a friend... if you are on Facebook you can check it out here. Eek! But that will have its own blog and won't be all over here all the time, I promise.

- Jane x

Washi in action and a hat for Clem

 Action shots of the linen Washi Dress? Sure!

We headed to McLaren Vale today to pick up a little bargain I scored on Gumtree (like Aussie eBay). A great excuse to pop into a couple of our favourite spots in the region on such a stunning spring day.

For any locals who might be interested, this amazing swing is at the McLaren Vale Visitor Centre. It's made by French company Proludic (as is the rest of the great playground equipment there) and if we suddenly came into a bunch of cash, we'd totally install one of these in the backyard. So much fun.

We dropped into a favourite winery, Alpha Box & Dice (whose website does them no justice whatsoever so I won't link to it!). Unfortunately their old pinball machines weren't working so no joy for the boys there but there was space to run and a loquat tree to pillage.

And here is Clem in his 'Huck Finn Cap', a Sew Liberated pattern. He wasn't sure about it so I am endlessly thankful to the very cool staff at Alpha Box & Dice for lavishing on the compliments about it. He kept it on the rest of the day.

The front of the cap top is meant to be tacked down to the brim to give it that proper tweed cap sort of look, but I quite like this more newsboy-style. I think I'll leave it. Great pattern and this, the 4-6 years size, is perfect for this 5 year old.

Later there was a birthday celebration for Andy's sister's husband at a hills pub. Ah, spring Sunday! Just what we needed after a busy week with Andy mostly away travelling.

I hope your weekend has been lovely too.

- Jane x