Four for Five

My little K turned five the other day.

The last month has been a flurry of finishing tasks (here and here) - as well as making the obligatory cake - or should I say cakes!  This year (and only this year) we had to do four!

Firstly there was a plate full of mini cupcakes to take to her preschool. 

Then there was a lolly cake for Playcentre.  This one definitely won the prize for simplest cake of all, you can find a recipe here.  K even added to the enjoyment by having her face painted as a zebra!

We had family around over Easter - K has five little girl cousins, all similar in age.  So to celebrate with them we had pizza and more cake!  This chocolate version (with matching icing) came from this great Sophie Gray book, as did my pizza base recipe. 

Then on her actual birthday she had friends and other grandparents around to enjoy a great pirate rumbustification.... with another chocolate cake!  This was the most planned of all and the one that K had specifically requested.  Needless to say we are still eating cake and trying to wear off some of the after effects!

As part of the pirate fun my H set up a 'plank' off our farm ute for the children to jump into a 'sea' of bags.  This was a huge hit with the children!

I purchased a number of pirate themed party pieces but did make a pinata in the shape of a treasure chest.  I used a beer bottle box and added one layer of paper mache over the joins and holes.  This was just the right amount of strength as they took a few turns each to burst it.

My super mother-in-law makes cupcakes for K's birthday every year - and this time they were 'X marks the spot' themes.  Yum!

A final image is of K and her cousins (oldest is 6 and youngest nearly three) waiting at the bar for their fluffies (hot milk with chocolate).  We're hoping that this is not a sign of things to come!

Point of sewing interest - all are wearing me-made clothes!  K couldn't wear her class picnic blouse as it was in the wash.

Catching Up!

I've been working on a variety of projects over the last week - but feel I haven't accomplished anything significant.  So here is a catch-up post of my 'smaller' projects....

Little butterflies made from a pattern in Lori Holt's 'Quilty Fun'.  I used charm squares of 'Marmalade' for this and have plans to make it into a larger projects using some of the other 'Quilty Fun' blocks.

A cigar box covered in Heather Ross's 'Nursery Versery'.  I used some batting to pad it out and stuck the fabric on with a mix of double sided tape and PVA glue.  K really needed a place to store her hair ties - so now we know where they should be!  The inside is covered in cream coloured paper.

I found a pile of cigar boxes at a garage sale recently and they have great possibilities as the wood is light, but solid and there is no residual smell.

A 'find it' bag made with plastic insects, made for a friend's birthday.  We also made one with dinosaurs, but the hardest part of both was finding the actual names to add to the list on the back of the bag!

Lots to do!

Lots of gardening... this is a shot of my herb garden and vegetable boxes.  Last week we took out a 2 metre tall camellia (bare spot at front right where K's rake is) and there are still some conifers to go before we square this part off.  The bricks are still being worked on... plenty to do there!

O+S class picnic blouse and hopscotch skirt

And this is a very proud K, with her trophy for leading her pet lamb at last year's local show.  We have only just received the trophy so lots of showing off is happening!

O+S Roller Skate dress with 'Tiny Tea Leaves' cardigan

This is what she looked like with her lamb last October - just to prove she wears Oliver + S most days!

I'm hoping you are all having more success at completing things than me!

Vintage Yellow

Warning... picture heavy post...

Recently my Grandmother found a dress my mum had worn in the 1950s.  It is a gorgeous yellow with smocking.  It has a label to show that it was purchased but the workmanship looks so much more personal than we have now.

 

 
The dress itself was originally worn with a petticoat but we don't have that part anymore, so I needed to make a new one.

I purchased some very fine cotton from Spotlight and adapted the Oliver + S 'Music Box Jumper' pattern.  The hem is extra wide so that I can take it down when the outer dress fits no more and K can enjoy it as a nightgown.  The back of the skirt is seamed up to about 3" below the waistband, similar to the O+S 'Bubble Dress'.

I'm counting this as O+S number 76!
It also counts towards a very happy girl!

Hand-knit Love

I was visiting family last week and revisiting some history by looking through photos at my Grandmother's home.  This photo really made me smile - it is of two of her brothers - and taken in the mid 1920's on a visit to Invercargill.

I love the innocent looks on the faces of my two great-uncles and I am awed by the knitting that (probably) my great grandmother did for them.  Both have hand-knit jerseys and we can presume both hand-knit socks.

My K wears hand-knit socks and jumpers and is quite proud that 'momma made these for me.'  I do meet the odd other child who wears hand-knit socks, mostly made by grandmothers.  What love!