Summer days :: a no sew zone, almost

Not much sewing going on here at the moment, I'm flat out just muddling my way through the summer school holidays with two little boys.  Trips to museums, galleries, the movies, a theatre show, a puppet show, swimming lessons and water play with friends at the local pool.  Mucking about under the sprinkler in the garden, Saturday afternoons on the beach, watching The Muppet Show on DVD, coping with the odd heatwave and a short but sharp runny nose thing that swept through our family.  I'm exhausted just thinking about all that we've done.

In my "spare" time I have squeezed in making a couple of pairs of pants for the boys to finish these outfits for my brother's wedding this coming weekend.

They are Made by Rae's Parsley pants pattern with pouch pockets and the tuxedo stripe options, in a charcoal quilting cotton.  I took a little bit of the flare out of the leg and also for the first time made a flat front pant.  The pants are an easy make even though there were lots of new little details I've never tried in pants making before.  The final fit is really great and the boys can't wait to wear them - win, win.  I'll treat you to a few pics of them in their outfits in due course.

I've also started to make what is possibly one of the easiest garments to sew and it's taking me the longest time ever to finish them...I'm making some sweet pillowcase dresses from some lovely embroidered pillowcases I've had in my stash for some time.

These dresses will be headed for the shop in a few weeks once school goes back and I have time to set up my photography gear sans seventy billion interruptions.

We are off to Melbourne tomorrow (eek, I've still got to pack!) and returning just in time for the first day of the new school year.  If you want to follow what we get up to just come and follow me on Instagram.

Makes 2013 :: looking forward to 2014

Hello 2014!

I really thought 2013 was going to be a year of change for me, and while it didn't really pan out that way I learned to accept things more and enjoy this moment in time in my life.  Particularly in the second half of the year I realised how lucky I am with my little family and our relatively trouble free life.  I ate better, I slept better, I felt happier, I embraced the every day more and worried less about the "should have, could have, would have".  I was offered a great job and then was un-offered it which was just crushing but it made me start to make some serious plans and find connections that were there just waiting for me all along.  The big changes I was looking for didn't happen but in the end I think I was happier for that.

That said, I hope again that there's going to be a lot of changes for me this year, I'm ready to shake off the full time stay at home mum label, I'm ready to use that teaching qualification I finished four years ago, I'm ready for more sewing and ready for having more fun with photography and I'm ready for a few changes to this blog for sure, nothing like a little shake up and refresh. A new look and a slight name change are brewing in my mind, but I will be tackling that all in good time (I've got my fourth party of guests for the holiday season arriving this afternoon...toilets need cleaning and beds need making!)

Due to a lack of access to my sewing room over the Christmas/New Years break I thought I'd start the year by looking back at some of my favourite makes for 2013 ::

I've never done a recap of a whole year of sewing and making before and I'm really pleased to see it all laid out like this.  A range of clothes for my boys (who says boys are hard to sew for!), skirts, tops and dresses for me, a spot of crochet, one cushion, one daycare blanket, one hat, one toy and some quilt blocks started this time last year that remain unprogressed 365 days later.  I started experimenting with knit fabrics (I'm still in the experimental phase there I think), did a good amount of upcycling/refashioning from found fabrics and op-shop garments and took part in some community sewing events such as Selfish Sewing Week and Kids Clothes Week (which is on again soon by the way, click here to find out more).  I also started making the clothing in my shop to a better standard, taking time to add trims and pockets and buttons that give the items a little more finished and polished look, and I've got plans to sew some new patterns to increase the range of things on offer there.  (I say every year that I must do more with my shop but it never happens, it remains a study in what happens when you put things for sale on the internet and then never promote them! And I'm happy with that right now.)

Here's hoping that 2014 is a happy year for you.

Now, lets get sewing!

400th post :: the one about the technology

Hello!  It seems I have had something to say over here 400 times over the last five years.  That's pretty amazing.  Sometimes blogging has been easy and sometimes its been really hard, I've waxed and waned with my enthusiasm for this space, but I've kept it up and that I'm proud of.  I'm proud of all the things I've made, amazed at all the skills I've taught myself and glad of all the people I've met.

In five years I've gotta say that blogging has changed a lot.  It used to be just me with my laptop in the night or at baby sleep time and I would sew and photograph, write posts, visit other nice blogs and write nice comments and that was really it.  These days though I'm more likely to be flicking through my favourite blogs on a reader, (still in the dark while I wait for my toddler to fall asleep or late at night on the couch), and I know this is the case with so many of you also.  Plus with the advent of social media there's so many platforms now on which to express your thoughts and share your projects that it's become quite the time consuming activity to keep yourself  "seen" and also to keep up with everybody elses goings on!    To be really honest on one hand I can't keep up with it, being everywhere on the web all at one time - I have a life! On the other hand I've become quite frustrated with plain old blogging and the time it takes to produce a blog post.  I've been struggling for about a year with some not quite 100% working DSLR equipment and that's been annoying, and these days my little laptop is not a quick and snappy as it used to be, and then my phone...well lets say its an old one and still a relatively good one but I kind of knew that it didn't really have the capability I wanted.  Me, need an upgrade? Need a re-think about the way I do things? Never!

But. My husband came home with a new smartphone from his work this year and I started to look over his shoulder at that shiny thing.  I slowly came to realise that next to my husband's new phone, my phone was really old.  It wouldn't load the latest versions of certain apps, the camera was rubbish, the screen was small and it had started to give me annoying little warnings about full memory.  Oh my little old android phone!  I didn't want to upgrade it just because I was caving in to a want for the latest, and definitely not if it was working just fine...as a phone.  Yes, I faced it, I took the plunge and got an upgrade, not the latest mind you, but good enough for me.

I wanted to make it easier to write blog posts, read other blogs and take great pictures away from my laptop.  Now I can do all that with my new phone, I can slip it into my pocket or bag, no big fat camera equipment, no slow computer, no finding the elusive camera cable so it will talk to said laptop.  It's quite the revelation and I know probably most of you have been doing it for years.  So I'm just declaring myself "in" with the 21st century crowd.  Someone once said, "If you can't beat them, join them".

The upshot of all this is that I've gone and signed up at Instagram.  You can find me there as maikacreations.  My pictures there are a bit more of a personal nature, some shots of my kids and the things we like to get up to as a family, but also a good dose of craft and works in progress.  It's great, I like the chatty nature of it, a bit like the old blogging used to be.  I've even found old friends who've given up on the blogging thing but they're alive and well on Instagram, and that's been nice too.

But the last laugh is on be because it took me over half an hour to put the little Instagram icon on the sidebar of my blog - sometimes I think it's my brain that needs the upgrade.

Thanks for reading and happy weekending to you all xx

And back

Whoa, Easter school holidays - what a blur.

I feel like I had just enough time to post off some tutu skirts to a friend's baby, 

complete a custom order for my shop,

and cut out, stick together and trace a pattern for a Washi dress.

All sewing things were then packed away downstairs, the sewing table tidied and dusted and I got on with the business of eating too much (cheap) chocolate and too many hot cross buns, taking boys to the dinosaurs at the museum and trips into the city on the bus.  Then we all hopped on a plane for a whirlwind trip to Melbourne to celebrate my brother's birthday.  An intense couple of weeks that's for sure.  

I came back to prepare for a total waste of time job interview on Tuesday...and just when you were thinking things couldn't get crazier, well yes, they did.  We signed a contract and blokes started coming over to our house every morning at 7am to start a renovation.  

I tell you, sewing has almost, just almost, been the last thing on my mind of late.

Today in between the audio assault of the sound of angle grinders and steel beams and the olfactory assault of steel primer paint I'm alternating between vegging out on the daybed with coffee and Frankie magazine, attending to toddler needs and intermittently attacking tulle with my rotary cutter to make another tutu skirt.

I'm going to leave it there, I think I'm getting high on primer fumes....

New

A new camera body and lenses have come to live at our house.  A lovely macro lense is rocking my world, I have a whole new way of photographing the world around me up close.

The curls of my baby's hair.

The seedlings I've been planting in my garden.

And I've been playing around with exactly how close up I can take a picture of a piece of fabric.
Just because.  Look at the weave on that chicken!

Much fun.

What's new for you?

British bunting

Everyone in the UK is in on some Union Jack action at the moment.  Between the jubilee and the impending Olympic games British patriotism is at an all time high.  You don't just buy strawberries, or potatoes at the supermarket, you buy 'British strawberries' or 'British potatoes'.  The Union Jack was even making a star turn on a packet of nappies at Sainsburys.

The British also love their bunting and it's hanging all over the high street.  Here's a little sampling:

  Prim and proper shop front bunting

 Historic courtyard bunting

Upper crust jewellery store bunting

Bunting keeping a stiff upper lip in the cold wind and rain while cozy things beckon from inside

Sewing machine shop bunting!

A cute cushion made with British crowns, taxis and buses fabrics.

In a sunnier moment: English country garden patriotic pinwheel 

The effect of all this patriotism rubbed off on my five year old and he was compelled to give flag waving a bit of a try.

Tally ho!

Up, up and away

Image from here

Let me just say that sewing, blogging, school holidays and preparing for an overseas trip are not really a good mixture of situations!  Blogging has definitely had to take a back seat over the last few weeks. 


Today we are taking off for the UK, Bulgaria, The Netherlands and Hong Kong.  It's been quite stressful getting all the required gear together for the little ones and myself, but I think we are packed now as much as we are ever going to be and I'm actually looking forward to getting on the plane and taking to the skies.

By the way, the Maika shop is in holiday mode and will re-open when we return in August.  I won't be disappearing from here though, I'll be posting little things from our travels, maybe even catching up on blogging a few sewing projects I've finished with photographs from these exotic locations....

See you from over there!

The week that was

This time last week I was all for getting a bit more snappy with my blogging - I'd only made four posts in January so far, I was really feeling like I wanted to pick up the pace with the beginning of the school year imminent.  I had spent Thursday making a little softie for a new baby and even managed to wrangle the increasingly geriatric DSLR into taking some pictures as I went along.

And then last Friday the smallest one wasn't well and needed my care and attention over the weekend...and before we knew it it was Monday already and time to do this with the five year old.

The first day at school - a momentous occasion for the parents, maybe not so much for the boy.  He was keen to go and no tears were shed on the day.  We shed a few together the night before at bedtime.  He confessing he would miss me as we went over again the fact that it was a five day a week deal, me just crying about the enormity of it all and not really wanting to let my little pre-schooler go to the next phase of his little life.  Ahhh, if you think about it hard enough and reflect on all that you have done over the last five years to get  your kid to this point then you are bound to have a few tears trickle down your face.  I'd be surprised if you didn't.

And then it wasn't just tears coming down, it was rain.  It's been bucketing down in Brisbane, everything is soggy, we can't walk to school anymore, the washing won't dry, the bathroom and the laundry smell and I am starting to see the dreaded mould popping up in a few places.  My new hang out has been the laundromat for the services of a clothes dryer.

Gosh, if it doesn't rain, it pours.  I've written this past week off and am looking forward to a better one after a recovery weekend.

Holy t-shirt!

I've been having a problem with my t-shirts - I've been getting little holes in the front of them.  After a year of angst, last week I figured out the cause - it's a combination of the metal button of my jeans and the stone island bench top in the kitchen.  Fabric caught between them just slices like it was butter.  I've blamed the washing machine, I've blamed a particular pair of pants that I threw holus-bolus into the wheelie bin in frustration, I've analysed the front of all my trousers again and again for any sign of sharpness, I've literally thought I was going to go mad.  The relief I have at knowing what has been causing the holes, and consequently being able to change my habits in the kitchen (especially not leaning in at the bench to wash the dishes while wearing jeans and t-shirt, which is most of the time) is a massive load off my mind.

Some of the t-shirts only have tiny holes and I still wear them, some have bigger holes and are unwearable.  Even if the holes are not that noticeable, sometimes I just feel downright daggy knowing there is a hole in the front of my t-shirt.  So to make myself feel better I made sure this particular number was completely unwearable. Ever again.

I've started to experiment with sewing with knit fabrics.

And no, I have not in fact gone mad, these are not for me...

Sweet treats

Christmas baking was somewhat curtailed today as not a can of condensed milk was available in the supermarket yesterday.  But hey, we've probably already consumed enough sugar in the lead up to Christmas - last weekend I went to a Christmas dinner with friends toting along a cheesecake, a trifle and Christmas themed chocolates.

So today we did some low key cookie baking - most especially because Santa will need some sustenance on his way through our corner of the world tonight.

Last night I also whipped up a batch of these felt cookies for the food play set.  Absolutely perfect if you are watching your waistline - look and play, but don't eat - maybe I should leave these out for Santa instead?

And of course, we will be leaving a few of these out for the reindeer (on the finest English china)...

...so in reality you know what I am going to be munching my way through before I head off to bed this evening...not one my favourite vegetables, but I'd better do it with a smile on my face, hadn't I, in the spirit of the season and all that.

Happy Christmas to you all!

This is more like it

A little bit of beach action on the weekend - so good for recharging the batteries.  Most importantly it got us all out of the house and out of town.

We shopped at the Eumundi markets and then drove onto Noosa for a body board and a swim (and a spot of reading and lying out on the sand for me).

Thought this post was entirely devoid of anything crafty?  Well, look again.  See that skirt?  The second one made by me from this tutorial.  I made it reversible so at 2m of two different quilting cottons it was more expensive than I usually spend on fabric for garment making, but it really is two pieces in one.

I have to admit that I made this skirt some time ago, just never got around to taking any photos of it.  The wind at the beach couldn't have been more helpful in showing off both sides of my skirt.

Oh, and that's baby M too, at almost 12 weeks.  He's starting to be called Mr Porky around here, he's getting to be a solid little boy!

Tired

So many things to show you, so little time and energy to do so!  Well that's life with a little baby.  Its not that I have been idle, just co-ordinating the taking of photos and the typing of text and having two hands available for working the computer etc., etc. - well, I'm stretched a bit thin on the ground at the moment for all that.

We had such a lovely weekend just gone - my gorgeous other half took both the boys down to the local farmers markets on Sunday morning which meant an hour extra in bed for me in the beautiful cool silence of our bedroom - it was bliss! 

Later that afternoon this was happening in our backyard - I wonder if my boys are trying to tell me something? Maybe they need a holiday? Or they're just thinking of some peace and quiet of their own?

Lemon-aid

The weekend's been and gone again. The weather here fluctuated between heavy black clouds bringing driving rain, and hot belting sunshine with airless humidity.  Yesterday we were sweltering and seeking any shade we could find at Brisbane's annual multicultural festival, today its back to grey skies and rain.

In an attempt to channel more of the sunshine and less of the rain I'm going for sunshiney yellows in the sewing room this week - first up is a lemon and mauve custom order.  This little pinafore was requested to have an Easter theme.  Yes, you read correctly - Easter.  I'm quite happy to pretend we skipped over Christmas and came out on the side of Easter for a few days while I am sewing with these lovely soft colours.

I'm also dying to cut into an outrageously yellow vintage sheet to make a little top, probably my brain is getting ahead of me there right now though!

Meet Mateo

Born 1:54am on Wednesday 24th August 2011, taking everyone by complete surprise at almost three weeks before his due date.

He's really a spitting image of his older brother - full head of hair, similar birth process, born on the 24th of a month. Our big question is: will he have blue eyes like his brother and mum, or brown like his dad?

After the hectic hustle and bustle of the hospital we are settling in at home beautifully.  Thanks to everyone for their well wishes and congratulations.

Stopped

Wow, no blog posts from me since early August.  Where did I go?

Over the last month I have felt like a clock winding down.  Strangely and slowly I stopped spending time in the sewing room and visiting blogs online.  I finished a few projects in the works and despite having a million ideas in my head of things to sew I just didn't find any get up and go to start a single one of them.

I finished a custom request for a cuddle owl.

I finished one pinafore for the shop.

I finished making a pram liner.

Then I turned my attention to bugging my husband into getting a shelving unit from Ikea so I could organise the baby things in it.  Mum and Dad came around to help assemble the cot and re-arrange our bedroom funiture to fit it in.

Then last week my waters broke...

Scraps: all things to all people

I'm softie making this weekend - one made to order for a friend, and one for my little mister because he's been begging me to make him an owl "just like I made for Scarlett".

Mostly I make these kind of things out my stash and scrap bag.  Finding little bits of suitably co-ordinating fabrics and of just the right sizes is part of the fun of making softies this way.  I like the way I have to look at colours and really notice their hues, and decide things like "this blue matches nicely, but this one is the wrong shade altogether."  You stop and realise that sometimes blue is not just blue, and yellow is not just yellow, and so forth.

But the mister saw something entirely different when I brought the scrap bag up onto the back deck for sorting through.  He stopped his scootering to make a closer inspection of play possibilities.

At first he fiddled with winding bits around his feet...

...then he discovered that superhero like wrist ties were really the way to go. 

So far these bits of fabric have also been police handcuffs, a collar for a toy dog, flames of a fire and probably another dozen things I haven't been privy to over the weekend.

Lucky I have a big bag of scraps to suit everybodies purposes!

Painting progress

A lovely day spent outdoors today - both painting and sewing. 

The red paint is as fabulous as expected, two coats on and I think one more tomorrow will complete the job.  I really wanted to use a roller for a smooth finish but the one I had was just rolling really unevenly and leaving fluff everywhere so I gave up and used a brush instead.

In between coats of paint I had a little go at making a cover for my change mat.  The patterned vinyl on it is hideous with a capital H.  I don't know why I didn't cover it last time it was in use!  I made some very dodgy calculations, cut my fabric too small, had to add on a couple of strips of extra fabric to make it big enough again and then after all that its still a very tight fit.  I plan to make two more so I'll have to re-think my maths.

It was too nice of a day to get myself in a twist about these little things.  I just enjoyed being outside in the gorgeous winter sun.