Can you make mine next? Is that mine?

Those sort of words make for a happy (if slightly hurried) sewing mama.

Charlie directing the photo shoot, telling Jasper to take the ChupaChup out of his mouth

It was a Spoonflower t-shirt-a-thon last Friday night and Saturday morning. Once I was on a roll these really didn't take too long.

There was enough left from a yard of the caravans to make the front of Clem's, because he wanted caravans just like Charlie. Jasper requested the 'Science Alphabet' as soon as he laid eyes on it.

I can't rave enough about how lovely this organic cotton knit is. The base colour is natural/unbleached and the colours all come out just a little soft and faded-looking (although the print definition is sharp). It's just so nice for garments.

Clem seems to have a standard set of moves now for photo shoots, which involves a lot of hands on hips and wiggling about. Oh yes and he's still wearing those pyjama pants (and often the pink top) 90% of the time!

I'm a bit peeved that the twin-needle stitching on the hem of Charlie's t-shirt has already started coming undone. I thought I'd mastered it with the combination of Singer 348, twin stretch needle and polyester thread. Bugger.

If this doesn't work out, I'm seriously going to think about investing in a coverstitch machine. It's no fun when something you're so happy with is coming apart before the first wash. If anyone has any words of advice on coverstitch machines, I'm all ears.

Well all ears apart from maybe a couple of nits up there too. EW! Yes I found a couple of head lice on me. Scrub comb scrub comb potions lotions hot wash towels and sheets imagining creepy scalp feelings... big boys are all clear, Clem is on 'maintenance', Andy has taken the cue to go No.2 on the clippers and I'm almost wanting to do the same! Yickity yick yuck bletch.

- Jane x

somewhere in my youth, or childhood, I must've done something good

My niece looked after the boys last night while Andy and I went to see an opera. When we came home and I headed to bed, I found this on my pillow. File under "most precious possessions ever".

- Jane x

oops, I bought some more Spoonflower

So, um, look what the postie brought. More Spoonflower organic cotton knit. 

They're having a free shipping offer soon, even on international orders. I found that out after this package arrived of course. But nyah nyah, mine's here already.

Tempting as it is to just sit around stroking this fabric lovingly, I knew I had to get working on it and justify my splurge.

The boys need t-shirts and Charlie got the first one. Sleeves and neckband are from a scrap of unbleached cotton rib knit given to me by a work friend.

I think I've made this big enough to accommodate this ten-year-old for a while; he seems to grow every time I turn my head.

Pattern was Ottobre Best t-shirts yet again (I'm certainly getting my money's worth from this pattern!), but this time I went for the straight-cut version rather than the more fitted one.

On a completely different note, we've had our first brush with head lice this week (brush - geddit?).

I was in the shower with Clem and noticed something in his hair. I think it's pretty amazing actually that we've managed ten years of lice-free parenting until now. Pure chance I would imagine.

I posted on Facebook about it and the flood of marvellous advice from experienced friends has been overwhelming. Tiny little buggers incite some very strong feelings!

So I think I've got the whole 'how to break the cycle' thing sussed, but time will tell. We're using only natural products with teatree oil, eucalyptus oil etc but theoretically they should be more than adequate.

It was a little tempting just to get the clippers out and shave dear Clemmy's head to get rid of all the teeny, tiny, clingy lice eggs... but I don't think I could do that to his curls.

After rinsing out some lice treatment, he was walking very, very slowly and carefully out of the shower. "Hurry up," I said impatiently. "I can't, I've got eggs in my hair!" says he.

(This is the boy who recently had two bee stings in three days, both times while holding an egg from the chooks in each hand, and didn't drop a single one.)

Right... so I've just brought the topic around to yucky bugs again. I hope your week has been bug-free!

- J x

the muslin that made me go "yeah, nah"

I may finally have to face the awful truth that I am not an illustration of a groovy young thing in the sixties. Boo-hoo.

yeah! hey that's me in the centre with the red hanky isn't it?

nah. I don't hate it but wouldn't buy it, you know?

Let's ignore the one sleeve thing and the safety pin 'buttons' and the random fabric belt for now and look at the shape.

The fit was not bad; I loosened a little into the seam allowances around the hips but that's all.

I was slightly concerned about the shapeless bag potential of this pattern on me and I think, suspicions confirmed. Not dreadful, however not flattering enough to bother with making 'for real'.

And didn't they like their 'short' sleeves long in the sixties? Modesty or fashion I wonder?

There are better dresses out there for my shape. Like something with an actual waist. Lesson learnt!

Yay for doing muslins then, however dull it might be. I think this means I have to muslin up another pattern. Oh well, silver lining: it's a great way to use up odd coloured threads left on bobbins.

- Jane x

because I simply cannot help myself

Yes, more bugs.
In our window, a friendly daddy longlegs wraps up a fly.
Can you imagine the fascination for three boys?

- Jane x

nang-nang season

Have things around your household taken on new names, thanks to small people?
As a baby Clem pronounced 'banana' as 'nang-nang'. Then it became the word for any desired fruit, said plaintively with outstretched hand: "nang-nang?".

Particularly, these white mulberries which are very sweet. I planted the nang-nang tree and it's pretty huge now and thrives on very little attention, which makes me feel like a semi-competent gardener.

Being a wise 4y.o. this season Clem said "what? They're not nang-nangs, they're mulberries!" but we're all in the nang-nang habit now and he's caught on again.
A few other oddities we have around home:
Dih-dees.

One of the dih-dees has been very broody for a couple of weeks now and is looking a bit sad compared to the other two. I think that's more likely to happen if you have ones that are not your normal standard brown dih-dee, bred for productivity.

Pung. No logical connection, don't try to figure it out.

Bashi (rhymes with mushy). The kid, not the rat.

And I'd better not forget bobbin.

Today on the footpath Clem stopped to pick up a feather and asked me "do you think it came from the bird's bobbin?" and he sounded so serious I could just about have scooped him up and eaten him on the spot.
Of course he's been positively revolting other parts of the day.
Speaking of which. Now and then I've read bloggers wondering about the balance of what they post, and others post, and how 'real' is the portrayal of lives.
I was wondering about starting a little series of posts showing the flipside of things... the yin and yang, pros and cons or whatever... not to deliberately show awful things or complain or anything; just to show the way things tend to balance out.
For example, love the romance of keeping chickens (dih-dees)? They're pretty, they eat food scraps, lay fresh eggs, make fertiliser. What else? Oh yeah. They attract flies.

I am not going to make that photo any bigger. You don't want to see the detail of this horribly effective fly trap.
But nothing worthwhile is really easy is it? Does anyone want to see the flipsides really?
And do you have any great made-up words in common use at your place?

- Jane x

The Honey Blouse

Yeah, I'm really uncomfortable posing for photos... but at least I managed to cut the fabric so the pink flowers didn't end up in awkward places

The Honey Blouse, by Make it Perfect.

This is the pattern I was so impatient to get my hands on, I ordered it before I knew whether or not I'd won it in a giveaway. Then I did win it, then I had to say oops, I already bought it, so the talented Toni Coward who made the pattern could give it away to someone else.

Still, I think it was worth all that palaver!

I bought my Pattern from Crafty Mamas and I know Earthgirl Fabrics now has it in stock too.

I used an Anna Maria Horner voile that I bought probably six months ago, in a fit of wishing I could build myself some kind of fabric vat and swim in AMH voiles.

One of the loveliest details on the top is the kind of twisted band on the neck and sleeves.

I've always wondered how to get that look, and it's not too difficult, just a bit fiddly handling the layers of twisted fabric and gathers and not sewing the wrong bits together. However, I managed with a minimum of swearing and unpicking.

The top is really comfy. Having just worn it to a hippy music event where I had to sit on the ground, I can say that I was really appreciative of the security and length of the waistband, which covered up the bit that my jeans, er, don't, when I sit down. Well it felt like it did. I wasn't sitting behind me so I can't say for sure.

I made a size M which is my usual average size but with the looseness of the design and my narrow shoulders, I possibly could go down a size. And maybe slightly shorter in length.

I liked how the pattern told me how to finish the seams, and at which point. The way the pattern pieces went together, and the order of the instruction pages, took a bit of getting used to but in the end it is quite economical with paper which is a good thing.

I'm a dork, I'm a dork, I'm a great big dork

If I hadn't been choosing fabric from my stash I might have gone for something plainer, that shows up the shaping of the blouse a bit more and makes it a bit less ultra-girly. (Blouse - it's just not a word I use! But I guess this really is a blouse.) A lovely light linen, anyone? Also, a double gauze as shown on the pattern would be lovely.

I think this will see quite a bit of wear over the coming summer months and I can imagine I might make more in the future. Thumbs up.

- Jane x