from Lothlorien to the 21st century in a day.....

I do realise it has been an unforgivably long time since I have blogged. My excuses abound. And I'm not quite sure where to start. Maybe I'll just start with today. Today I had a day at home with Arlo, where I finished off two projects. It strikes me as very funny that one of these projects was to recreate something from Middle Earth (whenever that was) and the other was for an object that is the height of modernity. From quivers to kindles. Voila.

A quiver (you know, slung over the back to carry arrows right? When fighting orcs and such) for my nephew's birthday. It is a Lord of the Rings party and he is, most appropriately, dressing as Legolas.

The quiver is made of leather-look vinyl and leather thong criss crossing up the seam. It is a rough job, but I think it'll do. This photo makes it look like the detail on an s&m costume. It really doesn't in real life (I hope).

I found this glass pendant in Spotlight and it looked appropriately Elvish to me. The sortof thing that Legolas would have had tucked away in case of Evil or to conjure up some of lembas. It is tied into the s&m-ish leather string.

And then I finished off two kindle covers for my twin niece's birthdays a few weeks ago.

They individually chose their favourite fabrics from my stash, and both ended up with orange birds. So twins.

I do love the inners they chose:

And now I feel able to move backwards from today, and try and cover the last 4 weeks. So many things have happened. All absolutely lovely things really. I went to Bali for a week, with my brother, sister, and bestie. Those of you who have been to Bali know what bliss it is. Here is  bit of  taste. (And I do literally mean taste. I Could Not Stop Eating the entire time I was there. This seems to be a bit of  theme for me on holidays. It confirms my suspicion that I do not actually have a small appetite, I am just lazy and will gladly pig out if someone else is doing the cooking....)

Oh masakan padang, how I miss thee.

Then straight after Bali I went to Timor Leste with my little family. The first few days were for a conference and the launch of the new Working Women's Centre Timor Leste. Extremely inspiring. The next few days were just pure family holiday on Atauro Island. Bliss.

We visited a doll factory,  a women worker's sewing co-op where the women work on pedal-powered vintage Singers, as electricity is so unreliable there. I met a woman who raises money to buy these machines and start off women's sewing co-ops with them - more on that in  later post.

Then we returned and it was back to normal life, which included unpacking, washing, new work days for me, new childcare for Arlo, visitors, a goofy wobbly tooth for Jarrah, losing the 'a' on our laptop keyboard (trgedy), and somewhere in there trying my hardest to find my sewing mojo.

And in the midst of all that I turned (ahem) 40 (I know. 40! Weird. I keep forgetting it is true. Even though every day Arlo wears the "I am 40!" badge my mother-in-law kindly sent me....). But I was quite overwhelmed with the love and presents I received from so many incredible people I am lucky to have in my life.

Something a little bit special

I have met a lovely woman in Darwin who makes her own nappies - they are veritable works of art, with ruffles and applique and all sorts of bells and whistles. We decided to collaborate on a special set for September, and this is what we came up with.

An exquisite pocket nappy by Zoo!Baby

And a matching peasant dress (size 1) by mangolime:

And matchy matchy clips. Could not help myself.

Coordinating echino fabrics, don't you just love it?

To be in the running to nab these, you will need to check out the Zoo!Baby website on Sunday September 4th. They will be previewing soon and then they will go "live" to purchase mode on the set time.

In the meantime, I am off to Bali and then East Timor for a couple of weeks, so jalan jalan to you all my friends!

keep 'em coming

And another custom order completed this week. I am on a roll!

This one is for Ruth.

One cherry nappy wallet:

And one pair of Seaside Fickle shorts:

Winging their way to you today, Ruth.

more customs

I am churning out customs right now.

These ones are for Stacey:

And these are for Naomi, going all the way to Thailand! (Surely I need to hand deliver them....?)

Goose.

This skirt took me a lot longer to create than it should have. But in the end, I am glad. Because I love it. So much so that I had to make another one for myself. This one is for Melly.



In the process of making this skirt, I have perfected my double seam inset pockets (which, as you may already know, I am a strong advocate for), and have also managed to take my love of piping to a new level. Have I told you how much I love piping? I haven't? It is so much fun to make, and so easy. Perhaps a piping tutorial will be on the cards in the future. And I just love the finish it gives. Very 40's.

Rather than use piping on the hem I opted for a flat finish. I'm, not sure what this is called in sewing-speak, but its basically a piece of bias binding sewn down on the front side and ironed to the back so it peeps out at the front. Anyone know the proper term?

And then on the back, I did some applique. I love this goose. Something both cute and spooky about that profile, and the dangly legs.

The facing is from Jessica Jones fabric.

The magpie goose fabric is hand screen-printed by the women of Maningrida (an Aboriginal community in East Arnhem land). It is pricey, but so it should be. Stunning designs and colours and prints. Can't wait to get more of this.

I am getting more into making adult's skirts now, especially with these beautiful fabrics. The one I made for mum is still going strong:

And my last-minute conference skirt:

Ok. Time to get back to work and stop showing photos of champagne.

Long time no blog

Its been quiet here, I know. School holidays hey? Do they do your head in too? Loved the routineless days, late nights, camping, trips, friends, family. Hated the early mornings (despite the late nights), the need for Constant Entertainment, and the time away from mangolime. I tell you, I have been yearning for some intimacy with just me and my sewing machine.

I managed to squeeze a bit of sewing in. Some customs:

A pair of pants for my little friend Luka's 2nd birthday. I adapted the pattern from MADE's flat front pants pattern - if you don't yet know her blog you must check it out. I used the last of my very precious Far Far Away unicorns fabric. Ach, the sacrifices....

The highlight of our holidays had to have bee a trip to Luna Park (Sydney) with my oldest. Just me and him. Quality time. Slightly vomitous (the rides, not the company). But the beauty of that place gets me. Especially Coney Island and its genuine olde-worlde charm.

Thinking about adopting that one for my blog header. A bit misleading though....

I'll be back soon with a heap of customs, a new creation that I am in love with, a possible exciting collaboration or two, and of course a stocking, At some point. Missed you! Hope your school holidays have not left you slightly insane.

And the winner is.....

The winner of the patchy cot sheet (drawn by random.org, though I can't for the life of me get the little widgetty thing to show up here) is Tania. I have just checked out Tania's blog too and it is beautiful - Ivy Nest - yet another gorgeous blog to add to my reader!


Tania I hope it is that lovely little baby of yours that will be snuggling on this sheet - what a chocolate box baby!

Thank you all for entering, and I truly do hope some of you follow the tute and make a cot sheet - please let me know if you do!