Improvements!

With less than two weeks to go till our bub is due, I'm trying to channel the urge to nest to get lots of stock made... And at the same time refining a couple of designs to make a few improvements!

One of the improvements that I'm pleased to announce is that all bibs will now be made with two snap positions to allow for use by younger babies or those with smaller necks! It's just one of those things that has been on my 'to do' list for ages and has finally been actioned.  Hooray for getting things ticked off the list!!

The Dreamers...

It would be safe to say that Sydney and surrounding areas are saturated with markets at the moment, however, every now and then I come across one that gets me a little bit excited and wanting to be a part of the action.  Apart from Handmade Canberra, would be the gorgeous, handmade Bluebird Market at the Blue Mountains, which I'm really hoping to be a part of one day. 

But coming up really soon is a brand new, 100% handmade, Dreamers Market.  The first market will be held on September 1 at the Riverside Theatres Courtyard in Parramatta, can you tell I'm already looking forward to getting back into the market scene!  Hopefully this baby will co-operate and I can man my stall myself on the day!!  In the lead up to the market the organisers have a stack of great giveaways planned so head over to the Facebook page, like it, check the box to say you'll be at the market and you'll automatically go into the running to score some handmade goodies. What have you got to lose, head over and check it out!!

Coming Soon...

So posts here have been few and far between lately, and I'm getting bigger and slower by the hour - or at least that's what it feels like sometimes!  I'm so grateful to have had the Mister home for the school holidays but he is about to head back to work on Monday, *insert sad face*!!  And we don't have very long to go until a whole new person joins our family! My OB sent us off for a growth scan last week and we were so fortunate to get the following sneak peek of our little baby.

How cute is that little face! And how long do those toes look!!  With just four weeks to go until he/she is due it won't be long before we're in the midst of newborn madness, and we can't wait!

Family Celebrations.

The last few weeks have been a tad hectic around here with our big boy turning FIVE!  The celebrations were spread over a week so it made for a busy (but fun) time for the whole family.  He really wanted a dinosaur themed party(ies) and happened to be looking over my shoulder as I looked at some parties on pinterest so was quite specific about what he wanted!  About the only thing I have sewn over the last few weeks was this Dinosaur Hoodie following a tutorial from here...

He loves it so much and the decision to make it at about 9pm the night before his birthday was totally worth it for the amount of wear it's had already!!  We celebrated his actual birthday with our families and the dinosaur theme was carried by the cake, a simple layered mudcake topped with a toy dinosaur... not the prettiest cake I've ever made but so very delicious.  You can find the recipe here!

The 'party' continued with a midweek birthday celebration at preschool followed the next weekend with a dino dominated party with friends!  The cake was based on a Women's Weekly cake but at the last minute we decided to draw our own template as the one in the book looked a bit like a ferocious wallaby rather than a T-rex.  Mr IndigoElephant was a huge help with cake and cookie decorating, a hidden talent that will be utilised at every party from now on!! And the birthday boy decorated the choc crackle volcanos with coloured chocolate lava...  The whole family will be involved in the food prep for our next party which Mr 3.5 is already planning for himself - thankfully not until the end of the year!!

All these birthday celebrations were closely followed by our 10th wedding anniversary - I can't believe how fast those years have gone - and my mum's birthday, by which stage I'd completely run out of baking energy!  Now I need to focus on getting some stock sewn up to tide me over the early weeks with a newborn, who is due in about six weeks.  Yes things have been crazy, but are about to become more so!!

Dressing Up!

The boys were invited to a good friend's fairy princess party last week and were very keen to dress up, as long as it wasn't anything fairy princessy!  My suggestion of going as Prince Charming(s) didn't go down too well either, so Superman and Batman were it.  The boys were gifted a Superman and Batman costume awhile ago and have since outgrown those, but still want to dress up as them whenever they can. 

I decided it would be pretty easy, and fairly inexpensive, to make them some capes, instead of buying a whole costume, with the thought of applique-ing a couple of t-shirts with logos to match.  The capes were made using the pattern in Meg McElwee's Growing Up Sew Liberated, I just omitted the hood on both capes and did a reverse scallop pattern on the bottom of Batman's cape.  Those points took some time to turn out, but I got there in the end!  

Of course I left the tees till the last minute and headed to the shops to buy the plain tees the afternoon before the party, but fortunately stumbled across some ready made tees for just a few dollars more than the plain tees!  I relaxed my never-buying-licenced-clothing rule this time and bought them before I could change my mind... The boys had a great time at the party and are loving dressing up whenever possible!

The Pyjama Sweatshop!

Not really but I have churned out four pair of pyjamas for the boys over the last few days and that's about all I've managed to achieve.  Of course when I went to dig out my Slumber Party Jammies pattern, I couldn't find it!  So I had a look through my other patterns and books and decided to try the Goodnight, Sweetheart pattern from  Sewing For Boys...

I really just wanted a basic long pant pattern as they've outgrown the last one I used, so I omitted the faux fly detail but kept the cuffed legs as I love that they can be let down to accomodate future growth spurts.  As it happens, I ran out of navy thread so dashed to the shops for some, taking Mr 3.5 with me, who then spotted some fabric he wanted made into pyjamas too, and I spotted a dinosaur print cotton for Mr 5, who is obessed with dinosaurs right now.  And that's how I ended up making four sets of pants and buying more fabric instead of sticking to the stash busting plan!

The only way to make these two normally very active boys sit still long enough for a photo is to turn the TV on!  An extra special treat before they're dressed for the day!!  Below is the cuff detail I'm loving, which is only sewn up at a couple of points so once they're let down you don't end up with needle holes the whole way around...  Not that I think the boys would notice, but I will appreciate it when I come to letting them down next year - or sometime before then!

And the stash busting is going surprisingly well, apart from the addition of the fabrics for the other pyjamas... so stay tuned for some more pics of the stash being reduced.  I'm also hoping that along the way I can try some of the hundreds of tutorials and ideas I have pinned and so achieve the whole 'two birds, one stone' thing!!

Accessorise.

I love me some pretty accessories, and as I wear lots of dark colours and non patterned clothes, I love brightening it all up with a great necklace, scarf or hair accessory.  Lately I've been noticing and pinning lots of fabric or yarn wrapped bangles, see how pretty they are!

1. Hand Wrapped Bangles from Cut Out & Keep

2. Pastel Bangles from The Glossy Queen

3. Martha Stewart's Textured String Bracelets

4. Fabric Bangle from Three Sisterz

Then, just the other day, my IRL* crafty {and all round lovely} friend Jess, posted a tutorial on her blog too... go and check it out, she's done great step-by-step pics. I actually had all the bits to make one up as it's been something I've wanted to try for so long and Jess' post gave me the final push I needed to actually do it.  A few things I did differently: my fabric glue dries really fast so I didn't have to peg the ends, and I didn't leave any uncovered sections of bangle - it all comes down to personal preference though.  And that's the really great thing about making your own...you make exactly what you want!

Sadly today's grey miserable day makes for dull pics!

I must say I'm pretty happy with the end result, and can't wait to make some more... I wonder if my fabric glue will hold on some acrylic bangles I no longer wear, or some skinny metal ones?? Might have to experiment once the boys are tucked up for the night!

*In Real Life