*Rustle, rustle...snip,snip....whirrr....whirrr!*

Yup, that's what it's been sounding like coming from my art/sewing/reading/relaxing room these past four days! :-) I found a really simple dress pattern for H not long ago and bought some cute material that was on sale. For some reason I was thinking that the shoulders would be sewn up but when I looked at the actual pattern paper it showed button holes!!

Shiver me timbers!! LOL

I have always avoided anything with button holes before with my preconceived ideas that they are terribly hard to do!

Was I wrong! I decided it was about time to learn. With my faithful singer machine, we tried out the button hole foot on a scrap piece of fabric.

Wha.. hayyy!!!!! (I was saying to myself) There's a buttonhole and my heart-shaped button actually fits through it :)

As you can probably tell, it's the little things in life that aren't noticed much that get me excited. :) The dress pattern is called NewLook 6576.

Anyways, back to the dress-making. Here are the photos...

Completed pink dragon-fly dress.

Dungaree Dress

Orange Dress





Blue Bug Dress

Well, I have some more material packed away that I'm going to pull out and use up...might even do some of what Beck's doing and have a bit of a sort through and chuck out :-)

Have a great day!
S.

Our own Little bit of England!

Hello Everyone,

H and I had a fun day today. We designed and decorated her very own post box! (Well, I did, she was happily playing with her toys leaving little trails of them all over the house! hehe)

The post box is made out of an empty Luvs Diaper box. If you're interested in making one for your kiddos, here are the instructions:

Supply List:
Empty diaper box
Sellotape
Pencil
Glue Stick
Rule
Stanley Knife
Bright Red Acrylic Paint
Gold Acrylic Paint
Black Acrylic Paint
White Acrylic Paint
Paint Brushes
Black/ Gold Pens (for outlining)


1. Cut the shorter flaps off the box (the large flaps are the opening at the back of the post box) and cut out the letter slot.
2. Wrap the box in brown paper using glue stick, including the large flaps so they can still be opened and closed.
3. Paint entire box in bright red acrylic paint.
4. Once paint is dry, lightly draw the square design that runs around the top of the post box, the Time of Pick-up label, crown, and ER symbol.
5. Mix a little gold with the bright red paint and carefully paint the square design, out-line of the letter slot, and the ER symbol.
6. Paint the Time of Pick up label white.
7. Paint the crown gold.
8. Using the rule, draw a 1-2 inch line up from the bottom of the box all around the box. Paint below this line with black paint. (It's the base of the post box).
9. Once all paint is dry, outline the crown and ER symbol and write 'Post Office' at the top.
10. Carefully sellotape all edges including letter slot and any areas you think might suffer extensive 'play abuse' ;-)
11. Enjoy watching your child play and learn about British post boxes! Look them up on the Internet, there are so many different designs, there is even a museum for rare post boxes no longer in use!

sa