Happy Birthday Big Squirrel

Today is the bigsquirrels birthday. Not a big one, but still significant. A family breakfast out with what is almost our other family. A bit of bed shopping for the twins and a casual backyard BBQ. It was a fun relaxed night and I hope you had a happy birthday honey.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Its been a busy ole day today. First there was preparations for the big squirrels birthday. We always make him a birthday cake, and this year Spencer was the main helper. It is a two layered cake, chocolate on the top and blueberry and white chocolate on the bottom. As you can see Spence was chief dish - licker, with an obvious preference for chocolate - not to say that he didn't do his job on the other one!








The next job of the day was transforming a cheap pair of jeans for my brother. He was given them for christmas and with a bit of bleach, spray on dye, boiling and just a touch of scissors and sandpaper they were transformed. The only issue to be resolved is the cut! Maybe a little nip and tuck will transform them from generic to groovy... This work was mostly done while the kids were asleep, but when they woke up with boundless energy, it was the trampoline to the rescue.

Create

Another productive day today. A bit of background first, Alexander is still in the thick of his Ben 10 phase, and his PJs are some satin boxers and a light (ben10) t-shirt. He has a small dressing gown, but wont wear it. I suggested if I made a Ben 10 one, would he wear it, and he said 'Absolutely'. So when I was at Spotlight yesterday, I found some green terry towelling and also some white. I had a terry towelling dressing gown when I was little, and I thought this would be great for Ben 10.

I went through the pattern books and while boy patterns are really hard to find, it is even harder to get a size bigger than a 6. I found this one which would do the job and the pattern is actually quite big. Alexander is generally wearing a 6 now, and we only needed the medium which was still generous, however I made the length a large size.

Looking at the reference picture, I needed white stripes on one arm and one down the side front. Initially I tried to appique this one, but the terry slips and puckers so much that it looked awful. So I ended up piecing it in. Mum had made a badge for his jacket for christmas, and this was a spare one. She machine embroidered the 10 on black interlock. The end result is a very happy little boy who will actually wear his dressing gown on these unseasonal summer mornings.

And not to be forgotten, I did a bit of UFO sewing (UnFinished Objects) This dress has been cut out for a while but was down low on the list. The fabic was a little bargain from Darn Cheap Fabrics. The Vogue pattern is very easy, but is quite little. I had to let the seam out of the waist piece because I couldn't do it up. With a few minor adjustments it is ready for an outing.

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Happy New Year

I'm not big on resolutions, it just gets depressing when they are all broken by the 2nd week of January. Having said that, I do just want to cross some things off my list and surprisingly I can do that and its only the 1st!!
Today after a brief shopping trip to Spotlight for additional supplies, I not only finsihed sewing these curtains (fabric bought in July!!) for the twins room, but I also got them and the blockout blind (which I've only had for 18 months) hung!
I also bought blinds for Alexander's room and got them all hung up too! All round a very productive new years day.

Party Time

Before any good party, you have to have a power nap - especially on New Years Eve. The twins went down relatively easy today, but of course it was together - and they actually slept.

Then it was party time - over at a friends house a few families gathered for a beer and barbie and it was such a good night. The kids all played really well with each other, and we were left to chat about nothings. (and whether Kellie from Hi5 was pregnant or just got fat). We didn't quite manage to see the new year in there but had a great time.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Christmas day was as always a fun, busy, filling and exhaustive day for all of us. We started at home opening Santa's presents and were lucky to have Grandfather staying to help. From there we headed to Nana and Popeye's where there was another exchange of presents followed by our traditional Christmas lunch.
It is nice to not have too many people as we have quite a small family, but to spend the Christmas season with those special people.
As you can see, the Ben 10 obsession continues, as Nana made him an authentic Alien Force jacket.
Paulie and I got together to make mum's outfit which we bought a couple of different t-tops, made a skirt, bought the funky red bag, black shoes and made her three different chilli inspired necklaces, a bracelet and earrings.
I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and spent it with family, friends and loved ones. I also hope Santa brought you exactly what you wanted.

Christmas Eve

The stocking were hung from the chimney with care, magic reindeer food scattered on the lawn and Santa's plate loaded with a biscuit and milk and I sat down to wrap. And what better way to do it than in front of the telly. No, it wasn't the carols or anything even remotely festive - much more important than that... the finale of Project Runway, my Wednesday night companion. Leanne was a deserving winner, and a nice end to a busy few weeks - Merry Christmas.