Ottobre 3/09 Velma Vintage Skirt - A Gift To Say Thank You

A little while back we went travelled up north and went to a friend's baptism. After the service there was a gathering at the local park. It was a special occasion and I made the girls new outfits to celebrate.

Unfortunately I didn't get any good photos because
a) Emily kept getting completely dishevelled and
b) About 5 minutes after we arrived Emily went head first into a pond

If there's trouble to be found, Emily will be there! Thankfully all the parents were standing dutifully by their toddlers and the open body of water, I fished her out pretty quickly. I won't say it wasn't heart wrenchingly scary but the nightmares are slowly dissolving...

Moments before...

I was completely unprepared and of course had no spare clothes for Em. Thankfully Kate's mum (Kate is standing to the left of Em in the picture) is a WonderMum and quickly produced towels and spare clothing. She even had spare shoes!

Basically she saved the day and Kate was very sweet making sure that Em was ok. I wanted to say thank you and I know Kate loves pretty things. I decided to make her a skirt to say thanks.

Velma Vintage Skirt - Front

Velma Vintage Skirt - Back

An Underskirt for Extra Puff

I can't say I'm a particular fan of Ottobre patterns but then that could just be because my sewing skills aren't up to par. I have to re-read the instructions so many times before I can understand them.

I do apologise for the photos. I think improving my skills might be on my to do list for the New Year!

Hopefully Kate and her Mummy will like the outfit and get some good wear out of the skirts :o)

Paleo Birthday Cake - Miss Em Turns Two!

Emily turned two on Monday. I can't believe how fast the time has flown! It took me until Saturday to make her a Birthday cake but it was definitely worth the wait.

The cake was a paleo recipe from a CrossFit website. I used the same one for her cake last year with much success.

The batter it makes is really thick, but it still rises just like you would expect a cake to.

Okay so the icing is more Primal than Paleo...

Dark chocolate ganache

Seriously if you live in this part of the world and haven't tried Whittaker's Chocolate, do yourself a favour and buy some!

The finished cake with little bunting. 

I've been wanting to try this effect for a long time.

It's a great way to decorate a cake without using sugary icing or fondant.

The washi tape used in the bunting was a birthday gift purchased from chibi run

Two layer cake

That's a double batch of the recipe cooked in two 8 inch pans.

Emily loved it!!

This is a delicious recipe and perfect for a Birthday. Cream doesn't really agree with me, but it was nice as an occasional treat. Plus it has no ill effects on the girls (they drink milk every day).

Super Heroes

What do you do when your darling angel comes home and tells you that she needs a super hero costume for tomorrow?  Why you stay up until 1am sewing of course! And you make two to save the inevitable drama of your toddler wanting one too...

Super Ava

Super Emmy

Ava originally wanted to be batman. Unfortunately I had used the last of my carbon fibre making protective clothing in preparation for the Zombocalypse* and so I had to search my stash for something else.

Fortunately I had an abundance of Barbie fabric that I'd picked up at a dollar store. It was so cheap that even though I only needed a small amount to make Ava a chair bag for school, I'd bought many metres.  Unsurprisingly there aren't too many projects that call for Barbie fabrics so this seemed like a good way to get rid of some of it.

I tried to wake Ava up to ask if she approved of my fabric choice but that child could sleep through anything...

I quickly whipped up a pattern for each of them. I read a few different tutorials but ended up just doing my own thing. Measuring them while they were sleeping was a bit tricky but we got there!

Emily's wasn't quite wide enough in the neck but Ava's was perfect.

The outer was a Barbie flannel and the inner was a Barbie cotton. They are reversible of course

It was just a matter of sewing the two sides together, edge stitching and attaching some velcro

Capes hanging and waiting their heroes

I took a million measurements of their little sleeping faces. 

The measurements were so close though that I just made two of the same for the masks.

I did one white felt layer and one pink and stitched some elastic between the layers. Edge-stitching the outside and outlining the eyes.

The look on Ava's face the next morning was worth every ounce of lost sleep. I was worried that it was such a far cry from Batman that she wouldn't like it. The minute she saw it though she squealed with delight and said "I can be Barbie Girl!"

Emily wasn't interested in hers when she woke up but as soon as she saw Ava wearing it she said "Emily turn" and tried to pull it off. Luckily I'd prepared with two!

My Heroes!

Playing dress ups is fun no matter your age. Ava has just had another few days in hospital which is always tough for her. As were leaving today we ran into some Storm Troopers. Ava was so excited and they were kind enough to offer to pose for some photos with her. It never ceases to amaze me how kind people are in volunteering their time for sick kids. We had the clown Drs visit as well and the difference to Ava's stats while they were there was nothing short of amazing :o)

*Note: Since writing this it has come to my attention that Batman's outfit is made predominately of Kevlar. Good thing I didn't have any carbon fibre left, that would have been soooo embarrassing!