distractions

Okay, I am a lot less productive than I would like to be on the crafting front. And today's post is really just a chat about nothing much - cute toys on the internerd, new books on the shelves....
However, big news!!! We have decided to move (again) --- this time to the country. The Southern Highlands of NSW beckons, so we are working out a way to be there by January next year (in time for the new childcare/working year). We are a restless bunch.
The boys are growing. The Gherkin has discovered Patti LaBelle and is in love (his spontaneous dancing to her album this week was amazing), and Little Pickle greets his dad by singing "Daddy, Daddy Cool". Too funny.

Oh! and The Gherkin met the lovely Justine Clarke at a recent concert. They spent their time after the concert comparing outfits. The Gherkin is a shy wee thing, and she gave him loads of time to warm up - we were very grateful.

I have found a cute cute cute site that translates text into old school library catalog cards --- here's a fun one made up for the hubby. Not sure how I might be able to use this, but...

Have just noticed I got our wedding date wrong! Hilarious (only out by four years...)

On other distractions, I have also found the site (that probably everyone else has, too) Two of Us. Heard of it? If not, the concept is, you take an image of your smile, send it over the internerd and instantly get one back from a stranger. That's it. I thought this was a really cute, fun idea, until I tried to send a photo of my smile... apparently my smiles are not convincing?

 

--- this looks like a genuine smile to me?

Perhaps I have struck a problem for people with gummy smiles? I remember some years ago when my brother and I were getting professional photos taken for our mum and dad, we were told by the photographer to "turn down the gums", as our gums were "reflecting the flash" and "ruining the photos". This led to many year of awkward fake smiles in photos... only now am I getting my real smile back.

Perhaps for Two of Us I should try a smile with low levels of gum exposure? It's just too sad offering up your real smile and getting back: "we're using a fancy machine to make sure you're smiling, and it appears you are not. Perhaps you should try again?"

My gummy smiles were returned as unsatisfactory by the machines (five times) - perhaps I will try with my mouth shut...

Really, all this smiling at the computer - I really should have been sewing!
Here are the books I have been reading this past fortnight - hooray for a great local library!!! (And at least I have been reading).

  

Chat soon lovelies xx

ps. for those interested, the closed mouth smile didn't work either... that said, it was a shocking fake!

sticking to a (yummy) budget.... oh, and more crochet

Today I bring you delicious leftovers! And a new crochet pattern discovered.

This week, we revisited our family budget. Because we have now been on one income for more than 18 months. And this wasn't part of our plan. However, daycare waiting lists being what they are...

So working to a budget are we! How do we do it??? Leftovers (oh, and staying in, and opshop adventures).

Yummy. Leftover pumpkin risotto, wrapped around a small cube of mozzarella, crumbed, fried and served with salad and veg... delicious! Anyone who might call them balls would have to be completely delirious (try square, flat, misshapen head... etc etc), but they were yum, and loads of fun for us to eat with our fingers with our wild boys, "stretchy cheese" ooozing out of the balls as we bit into them.

On a completely different note, I have also been go go go-ing for it with crocheting for Christmas. Yep, it's October! So what better thing to be doing than crafting up a storm for the lovelies in my life

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I found the pattern below in another gorgeous vintage crochet book - Motif Crochet, a Coats Sewing Group Book No. 1010 - that Ipicked up at the opshop for just 50 cents - hooray! This motif comes from the Motif Stole on page 12, however it has another life intended, as crocheted coasters. Gorgeous. I'll make a set in this wool, but would also love to see this motif in a range of brights.

Other crafting has been underway, a stretchy dress refashioned for the summer, etc etc .... but more later (rest time is over for another day).

Chat soon lovelies xx





pinspiration monday!

I have been coveting one of these or one of these fabric necklaces for ages, and have posted loads of these, or variations thereof, on my pinterest. So, on a stashbusting mission, off I went. I need to give thanks to the lovely Melissa, without her tutorial, I probably would not have been spending nap time this way, today.
Okay, so here we go...

From a green stretch fabric scrap (could have used an old stretch top - next time) I gave the rotary cutter a workout and cut five looong strips no more than 1.5-2cm wide (sorry, imperial peoples - maybe 1/2-3/4 inch?). Then The Gherkin and I played tug-o-war with the strips, til they were all curled over on themselves and were starting to look more like yarn (or zpaghetti).

Then, The Gherkin out of the house for a while, and Little Pickles faaaast asleep, I got to work!
I decided I wanted a mix of plaited (braided) and plain curled fabric, so my steps are a wee bit different from the original sources.

Step 1.
Tie a big ol' knot to join together three strips at one end. Plait (braid) away, until you think you've had enough. Something I discovered, was if you stretch the fabric while you are plaiting, you'll get a narrower, longer plait... see what you like, and do it your way! Tie another big knot. (or you could pin at this point but I am more of a lunky knot kind of gal... we're going to cut the knots off later, anyway.

Step 2.
Lay your plaited fabric on a flat surface, and then loop your long, non-plaited strips back and forth, back and forth, next to the plaited strip.

You can then pin one side of the looped ends together with the plaited end on the same side, or you can just cross your fingers as you carry it all to the machine.

Step 3.
Pop the ends you have gathered together under your machine foot and go back and forth, back and forth, until you think it will stay together.

This is when I then had a play to make sure I would be happy with the look of the finished product. Have a play. If you think you would like the plain fabric strips wrapped around the plaited strip, do this now, if you think you would like the plait to lie flat, do that.

And then get your other ends together and sew across these.

You now should have one "group" of fabric strips that have been sewn together at each end (and this is when I cut my big lunky knots off).

Step 4.
Now, stitch these ends together, one on top of the other. Now you have a loop. It's starting to look like a necklace now, right?

Step 5.
Find a wee scrap of the same stretch fabric and wrap it around the joined ends, as many times as you like. You could then stitch this in place, but I did some cheeky weaving in with my crochet hook... ;)

Step 6.
Check yourself out in the mirror! Lovely. Now, if you had been previously inspired (as I had) by this gorgeous pic, you may also have made it the right size to fit your head, too. Hooray!

ha ha love this cool backdrop???

what to do when the room is a pigsty.... sit in front of the towels on the clothes horse, of course!

Enjoy lovelies - do let me know if you have made on of your own. I am thinking, next one will be coral and egg yolk yellow. Or, maybe mustard with grey? Or pink. Yeah, maybe just pink. xo

The Big Reveal

So, here he is in his new favourite thing - a blue, sparkly tutu. I hope it is okay to confess here that I used the cheeky no-sew method! I am also sorry that I can't remember the original source for this (thought it was sew mama sew but now can't seem to find it), but I do know that if you pop it into Dr Google a thousand results will come up!

But here is my super-easy version:

Step 1: Sew a "tube" of elastic to fit small person, ie. just get a piece of elastic that would fit round her/his middle and then sew the ends together).

Step 2: Cut piles of tulle into 10-20cm wide strips, I did these of varying length, but you could be more even with it... you may even work out the perfect length by measuring up your wee person! Our tutu is a bit chaotic, so is more like a wild faerie tutu, than that of a prima ballerina! Yippee for rotary cutters! I think I ended up with about thirty to forty strips.

Step 3: I then mixed all of the strips into a big pile, to pop them on randomly, but some of you might like to work more neatly ;) Fold one strip of tulle in half, put the loop at the centre behind and above the elastic with the ends hanging down behind the elastic. Then pull the ends up in front of the elastic and through the loops. I'll pop photos here soon (have to take pics in daylight).

Step 4: Repeat til you're done!

Happy tutu-ing! Oh! and jut in case you thought The Gherkin just at sat around looking gorgeousin his tutu:

Have a lovely weekend! xo

secret mummy's business

secret mummy's business, originally uploaded by summer pickles.

Shhhh... secret mummy's business underway.

I won't do the big reveal until The Gherkin has seen it, but I can tell you that there is now silver and blue glitter from one end of our house to the other...

Chat soon xo

thrifty thursday returns!

Another day, another opshop!

Those of you who know me well know I love the 70s. Love the greens, love the mustards, love the burnt oranges... So imagine my delight when I stumbled across these lovely mugs!

I was so excited to find this gorgeous little squirrel, especially after having found an acorn sugar bowl a few weeks ago. Suzie the squirrel was made in Japan, and is a little irregular --- but so sweet! (and terribly out of focus, it seems! - apologies for this photo!) 

Oooh! and this painting, which I actually bought for the frame - had some big plans in mind for this, but Mr Pickles & I have since fallen for this painting, so it seems the plans will have to wait until another frame comes my way.

Oooh! Oooh! and some flying duck fabric (!) which shall be revealed later (I have exciting plans for this one).

And just because, here is my wee one, our little pickle, in a quiet moment this week. And yes, this is that blanket...  [Sigh] He's so lovely.

Have fun lovelies xo

Pinspiration monday

Well, hello!

I have been spending ridiculous amounts of time in front of pinterest. Typically whilst waiting for dinner to cook, or for the boys to get to sleep (and stay in bed). And it is a brilliant source of inspiration!!

So, rather than just pinning the things that have inspired me for the weeek, I have decided to pop them in here too (with credit to the likes of http://dreamgreendiy.com/ for the idea for pinspiration mondays...).

And what better way to kick off than to share with you some gorgeous broochy goodness.

Not a brooch, of course, but this would be so sweet as a brooch!

I was originally planning to make my own nautical anchor brooch, something like this one from modcloth, after remaining empty handed after searches on etsy and madeit...

...that is until my (new but completely lovely) friends at found: the store spoke with their friends at red revival who custom made me this lovely thing (sorry for the fuzzy shot - I am still the owner of a very "retro" mobile phone with a shonky donkey camera).

Oh! and on the dress front? Lots of unpicking to do, I'm afraid. I am learning to read the pattern reviews before I start - loads of reviews online telling me that the Butterick B5210 has plenty of "ease" (the technical term for saggy baggy?) and that I may want to make 1-2 sizes down. Sigh. Oh, well, a good lesson learnt!

Chat soon xo