Winter Knits...

Ok, so it would have been nice if we had some happy smiley faces but we got there in the end.


This beautiful cardigan was knitted by our dear Aunty Ros, she is AH-MAYZ-ING! I sent her a picture of the sort of styles I liked (from the Seed website of course) and she whipped this one up in less than two weeks. It is a beautiful cotton from the wool shed and came up so soft. Aunty Ros put so much gorgeous detail into - she is a mighty fine knitter and has since completed two more cardigans for the twins. You may not see the cute little pockets on the front (just like grandpa had!) where Ivy loves to put all those little things, which are of high importance, you know like barbie shoes, lollies etc.

                                             

So thank you Aunty Ros we think you have done a fab job and hope you will continue to knit for us in the years to come xx

yum, yum and yum!

I had to share this great cookie recipe with you, thanks to the lovely nigella.  It has been a while since I have baked and I now remember why...... I eat too much of my own creations.


This is how mine turned out......

 Recipe: Cranberry and White Chocolate Cookies

Nigella Lawson

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 125g salt free butter
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup superfine sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup pecans, roughly chopped
• 3/4 cup white chocolate chips

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Measure out the flour, baking powder, salt and rolled oats into a bowl.

Put the butter and sugars into another bowl and beat together until creamy — this is obviously easier with an electric mixer of some kind, but you just need to put some muscle into otherwise — then beat in the egg and vanilla.

Beat in the flour, baking powder, salt and oat mixture and then fold in the cranberries, chopped pecans and chocolate chips.

Roll tablespoonfuls of dough into a ball with your hands, and then place them on a lined or greased baking sheet and squish the dough balls down with a fork. You may need two baking sheets or be prepared to make these in two batches.

Cook for 15 minutes; when ready, the cookies will be tinged a pale gold, but be too soft to lift immediately off the tray, so leave the tray on a cool surface and let them harden for about 5 minutes. Remove with a spatula or whatever to cool fully on a wire rack.

Serving Size

Makes 30

The next Olsen twins...

I watched from a far, amused at my little girls performing what I believe could be the beginning of a fabulous career!

Isla, who true to form was in charge and predictably bossy was using a pink ribbon for a tape measure to take the measurements of her twin sister's waist.

My budding seamstress was efficient and calculating and extremely passionate about the task at hand, perhaps the next Olsen twins ? One will tell!

dress revival

This is Ivy, she is funny.  She loves cuddles and sunsets and barbie and the colour red.  Sometimes she is dramatic and difficult but mostly just lovely.  She has suddenly decided that wearing a dress all year round is the way to go. This dress, I made for her from a light denim about a year ago.

This dress has come in handy with the sudden change of fashion interests however it was a little too close to her undies in the length department, so we added a ruffle to the bottom and ta da we have another year out of it! Normally she wears tights and boots with it. If you are a mad scooter rider you generally take your shoes and tights off!

This is Ivy - she is fun! oh and a great model. x

vintage swing coat

just part of the furniture!

Here @ underneath the apple tree, I try run a little business amongst running a household with three small children, working part time and being a wife. Some times it works and sometimes it doesn't work so well and things lapse.  I decided to have a break from markets at the start of the year and attempt to develop a more extensive range and do a wider variety of markets in different areas and not specifically kids markets later in the year.  I have been rather slow and I am now finally getting together some samples ready for patterns to be graded and then to the makers to help with production.  I am happy and some what excited about the pieces which are on the way and thought I would share one of my favourites with you.

  

This is the vintage swing coat.

I plan to finish the coat with a sweet feature button and have it teamed up with a brown floral little dress or a soft salmon pink harem pant and a cream self spot blouse. Keep watching this space for more of the next range. x

Lots to show you!

We have a new place to call home and it feels really good.  We have so much space and storage and a room which I call my creative studio. My husband calls it his office but I don't like to pull him up on his mistakes. Our lounge/dining room is really open and spacious and has an amazing view it instantly puts you in a good mood. It would be selfish not to share these images with you.

welcome come in!  

such a lovely view

oh the serenity

we are even lucky to see the beach in the distance,
less the crane and construction site would be nice. 

my studio in the making

just some of the many loves of my life.

what a lovely little girls range these fabrics will make

 So easter here was really nice and relaxing 

 rain hail or shine it didn't matter to me or

 my troupe, the easter bunny still comes when

 it rains we found out. x

 H A P P Y   E A S T E R   X

hello out there,

It's been so long I know - we have been moving house and settling in and packing and unpacking and all that so I have a heap of closet blogs to post but firstly I wanted to show you a little piece I made for myself before we moved house.  Fabric from The Fabric Store in Surry Hills, I really love their stuff.

This is a little close up of the print, it is really delicate and the muted colours make it.

Here is the finished product, pattern is mcall's and was another make in an hour number (yep that's right I have little patience) sorry this was taken after a million tapas and a couple of cocktails under my belt.  I would prefer not to have any pics taken of me. However pleased to be wearing some thing I have made. yah!

a quickie....

Things have been rather hectic around here, we have to move from our amazing little spot on the beach, so with the house hunting and the normal house hold stuff that goes on there hasn't been a lot time for creating.  I have been doing a lot of fabric "research" one might say - ok buying lovely fabric. Ooooo I love you "the fabric Store" Surry Hills.


Anyway just thought I'd share a little dress that I made out of some of the sale fabric I bought at the end of last year, very inexpensive so a great one to wear to kindy.  It is a variation on the Willow dress with a sleeve which is cut away and left un-hemmed. 

Hi mum

I did a size five in yellow and white stripe (photos on the way) and it literally took less than an hour to cut and sew. I used stretch needle which made the fabric easier to work with.

Jersey fabric

It is very hard mum to watch Charlie and Lola and text at the same time!

DA DAH !!

This is something one of my girls says - all the time and this is exactly how I felt when finishing my first quilt. Some how I thought it would be easy making a quilt especially one which is just squares! Little did I know and sorry to those I made light of. So machine stitching squares together should technically be quite easy however it wasn't until I put the whole thing together with the backing that I realised how accurate  one must be with their measurements. 

With much perseverance and about a year later I completed my first quilt and I must say I do love it, all top fabrics are Ami Butler. The free motion quilting was beautifully done by a clever crafty friend of mine and I used a bamboo batting in between which is not bulky however lovely and warm. The edges were bound together with pre-made bias binding (to save time not money!). 

Now I just need to make two more so I have one for each of my lovely girls.

our twirly whirly dress

What is it that is so exciting about a dress that twirls? Every dress that doesn't twirl seems to be a disappointment to our little 4 year Ivy. I have been playing around with patterns and using up bits of fabric which were added to the stash merely because I had to have them.  You can imagine how excited little miss was with this one.

This was a voile from spotlight which I picked up in one of their sales for $5 per metre, it is lovely and light weight for hot days like these.

long time no speak...

It has been a long time between posts and although I am not a daily poster I am a closet poster. I post in my head, however anything that has come to mind in the last week or so seems so menial compared to the natural disaster happening across our country. The stories in which are unfolding have been tragic and devastating for us to watch, imagine experiencing this first hand. I am so lucky that nothing this devastating has ever happened to me.  The most tragic thing I have experienced in the last week was my twins pulling the keys and their plastic casings from the keyboard of my macbook! clearly not even worth mentioning.  So my silence is just, one would say and if like me funds are not flush any thing helps and if you have a little or a lot, any help is welcomed. For cash donations head to www.qld.gov.au/floods/donate.html.

oh please!

handmade love

I must have put the handmade love vibe out there as for christmas my girls all received new pj's from their lovely nanny gez.

nanny made shorts and button up tops for the twins, as they love to remove all items of clothing if given the opportunity and she figured buttons were too hard for the little ones.


and Ivy received a lovely nightie in which she must feel delightful in as it's all she wants to wear and has even taken to putting her silver ballet flats on and dancing around the house.

too cute!