six months

This wee girl is becoming less and less 'wee'. Now when I see newborns I think they're so very tiny, and said newborn may even be bigger than Tamsyn when she was born. *sigh* It's true, half of me wants her to grow and the other half wants her to remain a wee babe.

So, as the weather is warming up and the bright light of the Australian sun is being true to it's word, sun hats were in order. I made the green lady bug one first (another Ottobre pattern) and then had to make the brown one to go with her pretty dress.
Then I decided that some of the bibs she has were either ugly or worse for wear (a few hand-me-downs). So I traced a pattern from one of her bibs and made a few using some Japanese Kokka fabric which comes in a lovely linen/cotton blend. I backed the bibs with 2 layers of nappy flannel which works well, but when I backed a Prints Charming one with a cut up bit of bath towel it worked even better. So now I want to go bib crazy, but will have to stock up on more poppers soon. I find that they work so much better than velcro, which after a few washes starts to curl and can scratch the back of Tamsyn's neck.
My model likes to 'ham it up' for the photo shoot....
And because this girl is growing she is also trying to crawl, and can shuffle backwards until she runs into something. She will tuck a knee up under her tummy but hasn't worked out the rest of it yet. Therefore overalls were in order (more Ottobre goodness). I was in my favourite sewing shop the other day and literally pounced on this matroyshka fabric in a very fine cord. It swims on her at the moment but I'm hoping that by the time crawling is mastered it'll fit her nicely, and I'm sure there'll be patches on the knees before too long. Nice...

Mini Fest 2009

Our Moke is still mid-restoration, but thankfully we had the use of my sisters Mini (far right). Even though purists will argue that the 'new Mini' is just not in league with the old Mini, it didn't stop us from joining in with the fun.

There were some serious Moke enthusiasts who came from the mainland (mostly Victorian - one from NSW too!), so they took a few days to soak in some of the sights Tasmania has to offer. The above photo is on top of Mt Wellington.

Mini's from all eras were welcomed, and seeing how Renee was in Melbourne we took her Mini to help boost the numbers. The organisers were very pleased with the turnout - just over 300 Minis and 20 Mokes participated. And it didn't rain.
There was even some motoring greats, such as this Bathurst winner. (yes, I am a rev head...)
The Mokes looked pretty impressive....
... before being let loose on the streets of Hobart.
And Tamsyn? Well let's just say that I that this maybe the beginning of a long love affair with Minis.
The girl had a ball.

More info about Mini Fest here.

still sewing

Amazingly, but as this girlie grows she's sleeping less (naturally) so time is precious and my nearly-six-month-old is entering the clingy phase. And you know, I actually don't mind that. It's nice to have someone who's so dependant on me, who takes comfort in my presence. Also, I'll lap it up now because I'm sure there'll be a time when she doesn't even want to know me! Bless 'er.........

So I squeeze in some sewing here and there, although what with Tamsyn's christening and family staying, along with the Mini Fest in Hobart last weekend things have been rather mad of late.

For those who have known me long enough may remember this quilt, made in memory of my friends dearly loved Weimarana dog Char (blogged about it here). Rosie was left with Char's granddaughter Yazmin, who unfortunately had to be put to sleep a few weeks ago due to pancreatic cancer and tumurs on her lungs. I wanted to make something in memory of dear Yazzi too but knew it would take forever to make a quilt, and I wanted to make something that would complement the quilt anyway -
Even though the Char Quilt was a surprise the Yazmin Cushion wasn't, but this allowed Rosie to supply the photo she wanted and compose a lovely little message.

But what's this about Mini Fest you say? I'll leave that for the next post, in the meantime here's a little sample -