All Things Mum

I made up some pocket tissue holders for my nieces as a small something to celebrate the Chinese Lunar Year. For the front pieces I had the perfect strips available so there was no need to fold as there was a clean edge on them, if you know what I mean. So it's pretty much two base pieces and two front pieces, placed right sides together and sewn all the way around. You will want to overlap the front flaps a little. Then turn inside out and voila, perfect. Clear as mud. I had a few goes trying to get the dimensions right. Here they are: 9.5cms x 14cm with 1/4 inc seam allowance. Yes it's metric and imperial measurements, sorry. I can't live without my yellow cup of sunshine in the morning. The kids will actually eat melted grated cheddar cheese on turkish pide. Yum. Have a great day.

Isn't this a lovely yellow gingham skirt? If I must say so myself. It has it's own embroidered red flowers. Making it was quite fun. I loved the way it gathered and the flowers were a cute touch. Do you think it fits Little Miss?... nope... it doesn't . I cut out the pattern pieces thinking the 90cms size in my Japanese book would be ok. I even tried it on her after I gathered it up. BUT when I put on the waistband and put it on her.... it somehow transformed itself. It was quite fitting around gathered part and sat very close to her hips. It didn't pooof up as much as I'd liked. You'd think I'd learn from my mistakes. Anyhow, I broke the gathered stitching to see if it would fit but I still wasn't happy. I wanted more room. More twirl factor. So... I'm giving it away !!!!!!! [Just leave a comment and I will have her pick out a name on Sunday, 24th January, 5pm EST. You don't have to have a blog and Internationals are welcome.] GIVEAWAY CLOSED T...

It's so cute. A tissue holder. A shame that blogger won't post my picture up the right way no matter how I try. I found the tutorial here at Tutti Fruiti today and remembered I needed one. It's really , really easy and quick to make. Perfect for those mummies with children who frequently like to tear up the house. Oh how satisfying. A project that doesn't need to sit around my house, haa haa. As I was doing the measurements I realised it was quite big? 15cm x 10cm in metric terms. Perhaps it was one of those long tissue holders? I made it up anyway and yes, it probably is. It fits two of my pocket tissue packs. One set on either side. Nice. You can never have too many tissues. p.s if you want to make one up for pocket tissues I suggest 15cm x 6cm (inc. s.a)

Remember those Japanese linen shorts I made for Little Miss that didn't fit? Well, hubby wanted me to make another pair for her so here they are. I cut the pattern out about a week after the last pair. They, too, sat in my sewing room. I finish the bottom of each leg and left it. I finally decided today that I was sick of seeing it so I finished the top waist band today. I didn't even measure the elastic but it fit her. Yay!!! Things to note: I cut out the 120cm size but left the length for the 90cms. Next time I'll use matching coloured thread instead of using white. The linen I got from a local fabric shop. The bands are Amy Butler Lace Work in Chocolate. So how do you get a toddler to behave? Bribe her with icecream. Here she is outside eating her icecream. Maybe the shorts should be called Chocolate IceCream shorts instead ; )

It's 2009. Wow. Time has flown. As I look back I realise what a great year 2008 was. It did have it's ups and downs. But here are the things that made it great. 1. My first son . Well he was born three days before 2008 but still a new life. The birth was miraculous and beautiful. 2. Found Blog World. There was a time when I was beginning to sink. Two little bubs were crying in my ears each. I logged on and searched for Easter Egg wrapping. I stumbled upon Karen Cheng's Snippets of Life . I was blown away, inspired, happy, and the rest is history. 3. My first girl turned two. She's so vivacious and cracks me up each time she talks. She now conquers three to four word sentences. Drives me a bit insane but is such a joy in my life. 4. My husband. He always helps out with the kids and is really supportive. We hardly ever fight about anything. When we do it's little things and we get over it. He makes sure that I am okay so that he knows the kids will be okay. Hence, I ...

Here is my Amy Butler Birdie Sling bag. Woo hooo. I LOVE it but I'm giving it to my sister who will be able to use it to carry all her texts when she goes to university this year. This bag is huge!!! I even took off 1 inch from the bottom when I cut out the pattern and left the rest as is. It was kind of staggered bag making event. About two months to be exact. I started off with buying some quilting cotton for it from Spotlight. I decided to start simple and not go wild with the colours. A tiled Blue for the main body and Beige hawaian flowers for the band and handles. Then I cut out the pattern for all the pieces. That took a while but it had to be done. And then it just sat around the house. By that I mean it sat on the kitchen table for a while. Then it moved to the sewing room in amongst the other fabric piles. It stayed there for a while reminding me each time I'd walk by or start some other project. Front of bag showing pleats. Next, I did all the ironing of the interf...