A Bit Belated.....(and probably a bit long)

 So I picked myself up last weekend from the sadness of giving that lovely quilt away- and moved onto the next one! I first saw this quilt at the first kid's class we did at Millrose Cottage, and wanted to make it pretty badly! So on Saturday just gone I went to my 4th (4th!) class at Ballan, and got started on it!

I'd asked for a fabric pack made up- the 'choosing of the fabrics' isn't my favourite bit! I like a pack, bundle, layer cake, anything that saves me too much 'thinking about it'. Unlucky for poor Liz working that day the fabric packs weren't there, but lucky for me she quickly helped me put my own together- and I helped too! So breaking me out of my comfort zone a bit....

 the original

 

mine

We all got a Dresden finished nearly finished  for the day- 2 girls were hand piecing (eek!) and us others were probably just chatting too much! A great bunch to sew with. Judy was a fantastic teacher, pulling us into line, great explanations, and I'm soooo not worried I can't finish this now. In fact, I got home and continued on, completing 180 Dresden 'petals' but bedtime. 

So why do I travel an hr from home to do a class when a) I can teach myself most things via the net or books and b) I always buy extra fabric and really shouldn't be let loose in that shop at all?

The class includes a great lunch, at the cafe next door, and you pretty much don't think about a thing for the whole time you are there. 'Would you like a coffee?' on arrival, to afternoon tea, at the perfect time you're getting snoozy from a big drive and longish day.

 

 menu

As an added bonus the farmer's market was on that day, so a 'breakfast' on a chicken sausage in bread was a great start to the day too! I think I'd have to do the Farmer's Market on a 'non-class' day, as I don't want to waste sewing time haha

I realised on the day I hadn't blogged about the 2nd 'kid's class' Little Miss and I did over the last school holidays! Nearly the same group...

 they all got on like a house on fire, as did us mums! 

 the 'workroom';

  half a rhino;

 and Humphrey aka Dozer

a 'loon' of rhino's??

bottoms (heeheehee)

and 'stacks on!'

A seriously awesome place!

An awesome day!

I've been anxiously waiting for this day to come....

the venue

the reason 

the pattern

and a hell of a lot of lollies!

The class was HEAPS of fun, great people and kids, and they all finished a toy (better than some adults Jodie said...)

lots of incentives (and distractions) to stop the kiddies from getting bored...

 little prompts to remind the kids about their softie making;

lunch; gosh, have to add a few pics of that! The class included ANYTHING off 

the amazing menu! Plus coffees, drinks and afternoon tea!

then back to it!

And at the end of the day there were 5 finished pups! From left to right;

 Dottie, Spottie, Raspberry, Kevin, and Sally!

(3 mums and 1 Nanna were the assistants)

And my daughter's badge for Jodie says it all......

'Jodie rules'

What a fabulous day!

(and more on Millrose in the next post.....)

The last few days

So having time off over Xmas and New Year's means I still have no idea what day it is, despite a full day back at work today! Here's a bit of what happened over New Years.....

LOTS of reading. All the birthday and Xmas books have been read.

and of course, more sewing! I really can't believe I got 2 quilts done over Xmas and NY with this naggy sewing girl....

May I introduce....Snorkle!

Made from Jodie's pattern Pickle.

 she's not being rude, just mimicking Snorkel's tongue

 I went backwards on those steps! Instructions great (well, I read them anyway) and I gave her some help at the end (I can spot o UFO at 50 paces!!)

We spent the 40 dgree Celsius day on New Years Day public holiday down at the beach, so much cooler!

and sucking on ice cubes at Portsea Pub

Snorkel came too, of course.

More projects

We got this book a while ago, and as soon as we did, the post-it's were put in!

She pulled it out yesterday and picked her first (of many) projects.

A cute little softie!

The thing that amazes me about kids and sewing is a bit like everything they try- NO FEAR! They don't procrastinate, worry it's not perfect, think about for ages etc. I've told her about a seam ripper, but she looks at me like I'm stoopid!

So she threw herself into this one too.

There's no hand sewing happening- she's more a Sharpie face kind of kid!

I knew my Echino bat fabric would find a use one day!

and felt is very forgiving on the sewing machine. Even the opening was machine sewed!

My project for today was her first nightie (but I had to say no to her on the machine today, haven't figured out how to do my own stuff while teaching yet, I know it will come!)

She saw this at Spotlight for $3 (bought with my free $10 voucher, yeah!) I thought I

 had a nightie pattern in the stash- nope!

I channelled my skills and turned out a pretty ok 'pillowcase' nightie.

I cheated as it wasn't a pillowcase!

 She likes it , I think, wasn't too sure how to finish the top, I muddled through it.

And I wanted to show some bags I made as pressies- so fun to make, the hardest bit 

was picking the colours to go together!

the bottom 2 I made as a teacher gift and Assistant Principal gift!One had 

choccies inside, and the other a hand made purse. I made one for Cam too, but forgot the photo!

I started with the tutorial over here,  then bought Jeni's great pattern- lots of clear picks, and she worked out the sizes for heaps of bags, and tell you how to work out custom sizes too. they are fully lined, too- bonus when you have lots of fabric to use up enjoy!