apples and oranges

ow, my eye!, originally uploaded by various brennemans.

There is monotony in the drives you take everyday, to and from work or school. Of late the mornings are cold, grey.

I pass this house on one of my regular drives, I love it. I love the pop of orange and yellow in an otherwise dull and grey concreted multi-apartment same sameness. Makes me want to paint something orange, makes me think 'this is where the sun is hiding!' Or at least 'these guys are cool.'

Cold mornings breaking into warmish noons have been just delightful. The slight warmth perfect for a bowl of rising sweet bagel dough. These chewy crisp bagels were so yummy, I made them for our Sunday brunch.

My Autumn so far been filled with home grown apples, yellow light filled afternoons, time spent washing woolens, sorting everybody's wardrobes, and sewing my baby some new warm pants for the cooler days ahead.

And what a cute snuggly corduroy-ey bundle of owlness she is.

it was all yellow

There are a few things I am really loving at the moment, thought I'd share with you just what has inspired me and what I have produced as a result.

I am in love with Yellow, full stop. This colour was so overlooked by me, never got my love, now I want to be bathed, in it want to wear it, want to paint with it. Me and this new love took drastic measures to seal our commitment to each other: I painted a Ikea kitchen stool in Dulux's "Daffodil yellow."

Wow. I love it, the kids think it's awesome and it is certainly a pop of colour.

I am finding fabric so inspiring whether it be some new bargain ream of end of line floral blue, yellow and orange cotton or some old pillow cases with retro prints. Seeing my little baby's chubby feet poking out from some newly made yoga pants is too scrumptious, 30 pictures later and I think I may have one to share.

Receiving fantastic vintage buttons from Beatrix whilst she was away in Tasmania, we both adore buttons. I love the "will not be hurt by hot iron". I am imagining all the ways to use these blue buttons picked up by the friend she was staying with who knew about my obsession with old buttons.

Fabric bundles even made it to the eye level shelf in the dining area- sewing area

cookbooks were moved down a level, then My heart said "no", I love you both. So bundles ended up on top shelf where some precious things inherited from my mother in law were moved to a safer place. I put those in my glassed cabinet away from my climbing, scaling every surface baby. We are living at the moment with chairs on tables, it's just easier this way.

Making a fabric doll for Circe my baby out of scraps and then having Eliza claim it as her own. After all previous attempts from me to gain some of her love for my sewing projects have gone unappreciated and worse still been given the aaarrhhh. She even rejected the adorable Little Miss Frock in light blue polka dots with a deep pocket for stashing whatever a 3 year old stashes, usually their big sister's stuff.

I am loving pockets I want pockets on everything. When you're a mum there is always LEGO and pegs to pick up. I don't exactly know why pegs make the #2 most common item on the floor in my list of 100 most common found useful yet useless item when bunched with 10 other useful items. So I want everything I make to have a deep pocket, very useful when holding a baby for school pick up, keys can fit in front pocket.

Note my adorable patchwork pocket, see special projects for the disaster of pattern misprint resulting in a way too small dress for Me but fitting 10 year old daughter.

I am filling my recently meticulously scrubbed (thank you Aaron!) fridge -front with Eliza's amazing drawings, here she is at work. She spends and an hour and a half then takes a day or two break then wants to work on them some more her dedication and patience are awe inspiring

All my children are talented, Beatrix spent a day this week making a matchbox bed mattress, doona, and two pillows, for a tiny figurine she had bought. Her blanket stitch is fantastic she too is digging yellow.

Thought I'd share the little nibbles that keep me sane, while sewing. Quince paste on mini toast with leg ham, a square of dark chocolate ,ginger ale and cucumber slices maybe with a dash of pims depending on how indulgent I want to be or how many children I am looking after, and how frustrated I am by said misprinted pattern. Yes I ought to be pretty sloshed by the time I make that last stitch.

Baby bunting, very cute pants, Mums ceci ripieni

With the excitement of Christmas and its many late nights behind me, there was finally a moment to dust off the flour, clear the table, and start sewing.

So regardless of the mess and the awaiting laundry, the clink and whirr of the sewing machine could be heard. I'd wanted to make Circe a bunting with her name for ages but never found the time. With a supply of sweets brought home from Christmas at Mum's (including ceci ripieni, a traditional Abruzzesi treat consisting mainly of pureed chic peas and chocolate with cinnamon, ground almond, sultanas and a thick rich grape reduction called mosto cotto or vin cotto, encased in a crostoli-like pastry and fried rolled in sugar and cinnamon. But that's another post...) With one of these in hand and a cup of tea the minutes and hours seemed all the sweeter and life seems good.

But the bunting. My recent purchase of some bargain lilac linen cotton blend fabric bought for two dollars a metre was the perfect texture and colour for her room. A free template from Purl bee was used to cut the triangle shape with Aaron's mum's treasured pinking shears (this stops fraying and means no hemming required). The letters and very cute bird motif I made up were cut after the fabric for each had been fused with interfacing making, them sturdier and easier to cut. The letters and motif were then stitched to the linen triangles, this was easy. I had folded a one-centimetre hem along the top edge of the raw edge of the linen, just for neatness. A purple cotton trim was then stitched into place with a straight stitch, and it all strung together perfectly. So happy were both little Circe and I with the result, and with my sewing itch only barely scratched, several days worth of projects were already in my mind.

The following day, I made my very first piece of clothing. In the morning Aaron had cut up a bed sheet to make pj bottoms. I'd broken down after years of nagging and bought him some for Christmas, but he rejected them all: elastic too tight, too flumfy, didn't like stripes.

He used one of the Meet me at Mike's patterns. Well lets just say they are interesting pants. He claims all the "errors" are part of the design, they are not bad. You can see some of them in the photo.

After lunch I had my own go. Words cannot explain the satisfaction you get when you finish these cute little pants. Even more rewarding was seeing the mega cuteness of these tiny pants on my fourteen-month-old. There will be many more where these came from, I am in love with making pants, so in love we are all going to be wearing comfy pants.

Both patterns came from a Pip Lincoln's book called "Sew la tea do." This book is fantastic as is "Meet me at Mikes," Pip's first book that the website is named after. She is also a local Melbourne girl, part of the crafting movement here. These are two of my most favourite and well used books: easy to follow patterns of adorable things. Included are these pants as well as heaps of great easy projects, like softies, useful wallets, bags, belts wrap skirt, the list goes on. With this book under ones arm a seamstress can be made, can I call myself that yet?

The cute fabric came from my Mum, too, it was a curtain belonging to someone they knew. I am often the recipient of things "to be given away". Some people (including my parents) think that because I op-shop that I will take anything. I was on this occasion quite thrilled at the inherited curtain.

It had already become a sleepover bag and now some pants, re-purposing fabric is brilliant.

I may not have had a lamington in hand whilst sewing as Pip Lincoln would, but hey the supply of Mums Ceci ripeni keep coming, at least till the New Year. I love Mum for knowing how much these are loved in my house.