Sore Knuckles.

It's what you get when you spend literally hours cutting fabric! 

My stock of finished items has dwindled down to barely anything after stocking up Shop Handmade, In.cube8r Mosman and Making Spaces Marketplace, so I'm frantically trying to build those numbers up in preparation for the pre-Christmas rush - which has already begun -  as well as all those new babies being born right now!  In fact, i'm looking forward to getting back to the sewing machine, just for a break from the scissors!

Birthdays and Cakes!

My kids love flicking through the the Women's Weekly cake cook books in the lead up to one of our birthdays.  I have two books and regularly find them in odd places around the house where the kids have left them after a long browse!

Of course, in the lead up to my own birthday the boys regularly ask if I'd like a dinosaur/spider/butterfly/crocodile/swimming pool... you get the picture.  But in my recent trawls through Pinterest I came across this beauty...

Image from here via pinterest

I'm so tempted to show this to them and let them know that this is what I'd like...just to see their reaction! Isn't it beautiful?  Of course, Pinterest is also helping me get organised for the kids birthdays, especially since one of them is set on having an Angry Birds cake for his next one.  I had no idea it was such a popular party theme! Something like this might even be within my cake decorating ability! 

Image from here, via Pinterest

KCWC Days 6 & 7.

So the KCWC juggernaut kept rolling on over the last two days, but I haven't had a chance to sew anything.  Sadly life intruded, and it was a great weekend, but meant I've put the last two days of KCWC on hold until I receive this:

I've been looking forward to adding this to my collection for awhile now and hope it'll provide some good items to make for my boys...I have only read good things about it and can't wait for it to arrive.  Until then it's all about bibs and softies for this week - apart from the general craziness of life around here!

Hope you've had a great weekend and are all set for another week too!

KCWC Day Five.

The reversible bucket hat is finished, and thanks to the tips and tricks from Jessica at a little gray it was not at all difficult.   I'm definitely a visual learner and love having images to accompany step-by-step instructions!

Above is the cotton side, using the Patchwork Plaid from Emily Herrick's Going Coastal range.  I love all the colours in it, which should work well with lots of his clothes, as long as he's wearing a plain shirt!  On the reverse I used a solid, almost navy linen, but the check is clearly visible from the front so it can't  be worn with checks, ever!

I must add that making one side out of 100% linen made things a little trickier as it kept moving around, and required a gazillion pins to hold it in place.  The most difficult part was pinning the crown to the sides but not so much that I wouldn't make another one... maybe not until next Summer though - my boys are all sorted with hats for this one!

KCWC Days Three & Four.

Day Three of the KCWC had me trying desperately to finish off my Sprinkle Shirts and failing miserably.  See my problem below?  Even the boys said there was something wrong with it!

Trying to watch TV, doing this post-9pm, and rushing to finish as I couldn't believe how long this simple task was taking probably didn't help... 

Day Four saw me carefully unpicking the bits that should be where the blank triangle is and filling them in a bit better...

 

 Then planning and beginning the second shirt a bit less haphazardly!

And after another very late night a second Sprinkle Shirt finished!

Day Five is all about the Bucket Hat.  A big thanks to Rachael, who pointed me in the direction of a little gray for some very handy tips to make it all a bit less daunting!

Making Spaces Marketplace

Have you heard of the Making Spaces Marketplace yet?  It's a stunning handmade collective, tucked away in a little arcade at Parramatta.  Here is a bit about it from their website:

Making Spaces Marketplace is a creative initiative made possible through Pop Up Parramatta Arts NSW focused on injecting creative enterprise and creative infrastructure into unused buildings and spaces in Parramatta CBD.

The initiative sees Parramatta City Council and building owners matching empty spaces to local designers and artists to showcase their talents, with the intent of rejuvenating and enlivening otherwise ‘dead retail areas’ of the region. 

Making Spaces Marketplace is a boutique style space providing an ever changing array of handmade goods for sale. Lovers of handmade now have a dedicated destination for delighting over locally made products. Designers are offered a unique opportunity within this creative enterprise to display and sell their own wares in the heart of the Parramatta CBD.

I'm so pleased to announce that a selected range of IndigoElephant stock will be available through Making Spaces Marketplace in Parramatta!  I was there this morning taking stock over and couldn't help but start some gift shopping.  I was also convinced, by my littlest, to buy him a magnetic felt fishing set from Creative Wishes.  It has been a most popular purchase,  being in high demand from both boys all afternoon... I'm hoping they'll now give up on using Daddy's ties as fishing lines to reel each other up off the floor!  You can find the shop at Greenway Plaza, 222 Church St, Parramatta.  The opening hours are Wed - Fri 10 - 4 and Sat 9:30 - 3:30.

KCWC Day Two.

Ahh Day Two, such a let down after the apparent achievements of Day One, even if it was just hemming lots of shorts... Then along came 'work', leaving very little time for kids clothes!  I thought this week was great timing for KCWC but I needed to organise some stock to send to various places - more about that later - and the only achievemnet for Day Two is below.

I've wanted to do something similar to Dana's Sprinkle Shirts  for awhile, but it was another one of those things I never seemed to get around to.  The boys are also really into their letters too so I think the shirts will be a hit!  I have a feeling I'll be lucky to get these completed on Day Three, wish me luck!

KCWC Day One.

The  Elsie Marley Kids Clothes Week Challenge began yesterday and while it's the Autumn installment, I need to get organised for the warmer weather we are anticipating for Spring and Summer down in the southern hemisphere.  It is the perfect timing for me to finish off some summer pyjamas I started last summer for my boys, but never finished due to my aversion to hemming.  Thankfully the sizing is fairly generous and they'll fit the boys through this season, and maybe even the next. I was also able to finish off some other shorts I had started as well, so all in all it was a great start to the week!

Two sets of summer PJs for Baby Elephant #2 and a pair of linen pin stripe shorts in a highly impractical but seriously stylish linen.

Two sets of summer PJs for Baby Elephant #1.  I love the giraffe fabric, I won it (and the fish above) from I Just Love That Fabric, in a giveaway well over a year ago and was saving it, and saving it, and finally decided to cut into it for the boys.

Plus two pair of shorts for #1, yes I feel bad that he always gets more new clothes, but with two boys, I know they'll get double the wear!  Plus below you'll see that I've cut the pieces for the bucket hat... Feeling slightly intimidated by this project but will give it a go!

Kids Clothes Week Challenge.

Did you know that the Elsie Marley Kids Clothes Week Challenge is on again next week?  I've been umm-ing and ahh-ing over whether to sew along, but figured it wouldn't hurt to join in the fun!  Especially since I've begun sorting through the mountains of fabric in the sewing room and 'found' way too many that I'd bought to sew something specific for the kids, which were then buried beneath other things.  Or I could even finish those half made projects that are starting to pile up, did you know that I have some unfinished summer pyjamas that I started for the boys last summer!  Thankfully they're a generous cut so I should be able to get away with it and they can wear them this summer!!

I have already pulled out my copy of the Oliver+S book, Little Things To Sew, as I've wanted to make the boys the reversible bucket hat from it. We'll see how it goes!!

image from Oliver & S

Please let me know if any of you are joining in with the Challenge too!  I'd love to see what you're making.

Handmade Canberra Wrap Up!

Wow! I am still recovering from the utter madness that is Handmade Canberra's Upmarket last weekend... Apart from the manic preparation for a never-been-done-before two day event, my weekend began in the wee small hours of Saturday morning.  I was driving down on my own, so was grateful for the opportunity to convoy with Kim on the way down - thanks Kim!  Set up was crazy busy and before I knew it, lovely shoppers were coming through the doors and I hadn't even got the price tags up, let alone changed from my comfy driving shoes to the boots I was planning on wearing!  The brand new Party Dress, pictured above (apologies for the dodgy phone pic), was very well received, which is wonderful as I love it too!

I had a great weekend, the highlights are always meeting and chatting to the people who use the things I make.  It is so humbling that others find what I make beautiful and practical, and keep coming back for more - all those return buyers absolutely made my weekend, thank you so much, you guys make the late nights worthwhile!  My only complaint would be that I never get enough time to shop at this market... I literally had a short list in my head of which stalls I need to visit and did a quick dash over during a quiet moment later in the day or on Sunday morning before the doors opened to the public.  Want to see who I visited?

The Curious Chocolatier for the yummiest macaroons, I went over late on Sunday to buy some for my boys, and went back 10mins later to buy more for myself...Unfortunately by that time they only had one pistachio macaroon left, so Mr IE got that one, though the hazlenut one and salted caramel one were delicious too!

I stopped by Prim and Pretty for a Liberty fabric flower brooch, love brooches and can't wait to start wearing that one!  Though I was also tempted by their lovely resin / ribbon necklaces too, might have to save that one for a future market!

Six in a Row is always a feast for the eyes with all their amazing necklaces, I couldn't help it it when a lovely multi-strand wooden bead one made it's way around my neck and had to be purchased!

And Handmade is never complete without a quick chat to Jennie a.k.a Posie Patchwork...  This lovely lady introduced me to the gang at Handmade about a year ago and always has a smile on her face and time for a chat, even when she is exhausted and dosed up on nurofen to get through market pack up.  She is an inspiration too, with her soldier husband often away, four gorgeous kids to raise and a successful handmade business on the go, I truly don't know how she does it all!

What a long post this has become! Yay you if you read through to the end!!  Anyway, it's on all over again on December 17 & 18... But for now, it's catch up on sleep time!

PS: all images apart from the first one are courtesy of Handmade Canberra.