Dress up day

I've always been keen on a bit of a dress up day...

I was 10 in this photo (left) and I remember being so excited making this hat for the 'Easter bonnet parade' out of polystyrene blocks, crepe paper and spray paint! 
(I'm sure high waisted velour school jumpers were fashionable back then...I wonder if this was about the same time my mother discovered sewing with stretch fabrics!)

The photo on the right (above) was a high school social, the theme was 'Nursery Rhymes'. Dad helped me construct a paper maiche Humpty dumpty- it involved chicken wire and lots of newspaper. After it was created, we realised it was too big to fit in the car so he took me into town (we lived on a farm) with the costume in the trailer! The social (school dance/disco) was at the local town hall and whoever was on the door went 'whoa' and had to open up the double doors so I could fit through.

Others characters I remember being are Jake the Peg (this involved a purple dressing gown and a broom with a stuffed sock over it) and Pippi Longstocking.

And more recently I was a bee from the bee movie for my girlfriends 'movie' themed 40th...

To date, I've been a bit disappointed that my children don't seen to have that 'dress up' gene. On the odd occasion there have been dress up days, I have asked my daughter what she'd like to go as (with a 'I'll make you any costume you want!)- she has generally responded with 'a girl'!

Imagine my delight when my Year 7 boy came home recently  and said 'we have to dress up as something starting with M and I want to go as a magician'...followed by 'could you make me a black cape with a shiny red inside?'
Why yes, I could, and I have been just waiting to be asked.
So, I consulted the big guns- a book I loved to pore over as a child...yep, Enid Gilchrist- it's obviously been well loved!

on a side note- she's still 'on trend' with these 'onesies'!

The result was a cape that my boy thought was 'awesome'. I also stayed up far too late making the top hat- next time I plan to share the 'making'! Mr Apple got involved my coming up with the wand (tomato stake, with liquid paper on the tip!)

When he got home, he reported that most of the other kids said that were "Me" and just had an out of uniform day. I asked if he thought next time he would dress up he thought no, he wouldn't bother! 

He did proceed to stay in his outfit for several hours, I take heart in that!

Quilting love

When I make someone a quilt, I think of them as I sew, I hold them in my heart. 
It's quite a considered thing for me, to make someone a quilt. I tell people 'you don't get one if you ask' (is that mean?). 
As odd as this might sound, I kind of have to feel 'stirred' to make a quilt for someone. I'm not sure why, it's often pretty simple sewing that I do, straight lines. A fair investment in time, but generally not complex sewing. 

If I am making a baby a quilt, I often don't like to start until the baby has been born, or better still until I have met the baby. I definitely wouldn't finish a baby quilt without meeting that baby.

I wonder if it's because with my quilts, I send 'the best good wishes', in good situations, and in difficult situations- you know those "I wish I had a magic wand to make this situation better" kind of things (but I don't so I have made you a quilt to swaddle yourself in, to wrap yourself up in and know that you are loved and cared for and held). They are very personal.

This is a quilt (sorry about the poor quality photos) that I recently made for a dear friend, it felt like the only thing I could do.

Last November, at craft camp...

More sewing I did ages ago but which has only just been 'grown into to'- it's much nicer to show you photos with Little Miss A modelling them.

This is another Ottobre pattern- from the 4/2011 edition, design number 6. There is a dress version as well.
It was really easy to sew up, not many pieces and some feature shirring around the neckline- I love shirring! 

I made these at Sewjourn last November- maybe next year I will show you what I made at Sewjourn in May!
I remember I didn't know if I was getting a niece or a nephew at that stage- now we have this lovely girl in our lives.  Also, with this pattern, I got to play with my friend's fun and fancy snap press gizmo to make nappy access easy along the inner leg seam. 

Oh- and on a totally different topic- if you have a good internet connection, and you take it for granted, please take a moment today to appreciate it, on my behalf! I love blogging and would love to do it more, but when I get to my computer, stuff around with our slow and inconsistent internet trying to upload photos...well, it causes me much frustration and grumpiness- which makes it not as fun as it could be! One day we might get broadband here...in the meantime, I suspect I will continue with my irregular updates!