Wednesday 15 October 2014

Premature Christmas Longings...


So I succumbed this morning and put on some Christmas music. I made a huge effort this year and I don't think I've listened to anything Christmas-y more than once or twice all year! For those who don't know, I'm a huge lover of all things Christmas... always have been and probably always will be!
I just want to take this moment to say that The Piano Guys Christmas album 'A Family Christmas' is fantastic! Who could avoid feeling cheerful with such light and bright music playing? In fact, I highly recommend all their work!
It will be our first Christmas with our little boy this year! That makes me more excited than ever. I hope that one day he will love Christmas time as much as me. Even though he is going to be a hazard to our decorations this year, I'm sure we will still be able to put up some beautiful things!

Christmas is such a time of wonder and beauty for me. Wonder that God became a man, born in such lowly conditions. Wonder at the reason He came and enormity of His gift to humanity... life. Reconciliation with God. Forgiveness. Peace.
Beauty in the decorations and excitement. Beauty in the traditions that I grew up with. Sitting around the tree on Christmas Eve in the candlelight, singing carols and reading the Christmas story as a family. Beauty in the joy of giving and receiving gifts and expressing love for each other. Beauty in good food and the enjoyment of the wonderful life that we have!
Ahhh... Christmas. Still two and a half months away.


Thursday 9 October 2014

Baby Overalls (Burda 3022)











I'm sure that by the time my son gets to preschool, I will have tried out every single overall pattern on the market! Here is another one... much more successful than the last!

Burda 3022. I picked this pattern up at the Lifeline Bookfest for a dollar. Someone had pre-loved it, but thankfully all the pieces were intact. I chose to make the short overalls (B) with a few adjustments to make them less girly.

Overall a great pattern. It was easy to sew and came out really well. Again, when they say loose-fitting, they really mean it! I did take these overalls in under the arms as well, but had no other pattern related problems. If you like loose fitting, then it could be left as is.

Instead of adding the cute ties at the knee, I cut the legs really short and and put elastic around the hem. The effect is a very cute romper. More masculine for my boy. I recommend this one... sadly I don't think you can still buy it!



Baby Romper Suit (Burda Kids 9462)














I recently went to Spotlight and got excited about their $5 sale on all patterns. One of the many patterns that I picked up was Burda Kids 9462 for cute, puffy baby rompers. It looked simple to make and cool for summer wear, so I cut it out and got sewing.

As I was sewing I did think the pattern looked rather full, but that was mean to be the style so I kept going. Mistake. I should have tried it on my little boy before finishing off all the edges.

If I were to review this pattern and give it a rating, it would get one star. Not only is it way too full, but the legs sit wrong and the crutch is too short for the width sizing. I eventually cut off the legs, shortening them and resewing the side seams to make the romper narrower. I also took it in under the arms to get a better fit.

With all my alterations, the romper is still loose fitting (as it is meant to be), but not so loose fitting that the baby will get lost inside. It still isn't a great garment altered. I wouldn't recommend it or use the romper pattern again. Maybe the combination girls set would work out better?



Tuesday 7 October 2014

Making Playdough

School holidays are over again. Sigh. Back to my normal routine again. Anyway...

I thought I would be clever and make my little boy some play dough to enjoy a few weeks ago (been so long since I have done any blogging!).
I found an edible... or should that be non toxic... recipe online and made some up. Perhaps it would be better for us if it was edible because that is all my monkey wanted to do. Never mind. I put it in the fridge and will bring it out again in a month or two for another try!

Lovely new playdough!

One of the only moments he wasn't stuffing it in his mouth!