An Autumn Collection

I may go on about the weather a bit too much for a sewing blog, but it is MELBOURNE and we all know the song 'Four Seasons in One Day' stems from this beautiful place... lately though, I'm hearing our good friend Sydney has a bit of Crowded House poetry about it... and this old M-Town seems to be a little more consistent... you dress in layers, and you can expect to use them... but it's less topsy turvy than other autumns and winters.

The blue skies come by a few times a week, and as the temperatures drops... the city still looks pretty. Here's just a few snaps from the past few weeks from my path to work each day. By car, train and walking, there's always something bright to look at... a shape here and there or a splash of colour... The Napoleon exhibition at the NGV looks interesting too...

Talk soon!

What to Wear for Winter: A NEW DILEMMA

Please excuse the iphone snap, but saying hi to you now is way better than waiting til the 'good camera' is ready on the tripod (Where is the tripod, actually?) and the sky is bright enough (it's totally wintery now) and/or Husbie is free to take a snap!

So HELLO again! And, here's a new dilemma! What to Wear for Winter?!

It's totally cold (after a gorgeous long summery autumn feel) this week, and looking at the forecast, I think we'll have mid-teens for a bit... no probs, rugging up is ok and layering is ok too... but every week, I'm a little bit bigger around the middle.

My darling red duffle from last year's 'Red, White & Blue' theme for Sew Weekly is perfect for now, and maybe be ok for another month to cover up the bump... but it's slightly cropped so if I start to point downwards (do pregz bellies point down to the ground?), it'll be exposed to the wintery elements.

But did you notice from the photo above? A toggle loop has been chewed off... a lasting goodbye from Doggie Darling methinks, as I took the jacket out of the 'Last Winter' box recently, and she had a little nibble. I can't bring myself to detach it now though, even though it probably looks uneven and grubby... darling little pup, she was!

As a seamstress, I'm starting to think I attract dilemmas though... 'What do I wear to this event?' or 'I've got nothing new in the wardrobe' and 'I need more cardigans!'... or is this what people who shop day to day think anyways? And then they just go out and buy the item? Our dilemmas, as seamstresses (LARDY DAH: grown up words!) is finding the time to MAKE the item you need, so that it looks good and is wearable when you need it!

More soon on wintery wear for bigger bump bellies!

Thank you again for all your caring comments for our baby news, it's such a special thing to share, and like a few of you said, even though we've never met, it's just so lovely to hear these sweet milestones in our little lives online! Very humbling with how lovely all of you are! GUSH!

Talk soon, xoxo

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day Mum!

We spent a great weekend with my parents for their 40th Wedding Anniversary, but also, since it's Mother's Day today, we got an extra round of hugs and kisses with them today.

Wishing you plenty of family time, with your mum, your sisters, your daughters, your cousins... whoever you love and treats you motherly! My first Mother's Day in Waiting (I suppose) but not my first as a Mama of a Hound! xoxo

The photo of my Mum and I is probably 1978 or early 1979? At a hilarious place in the Blue Mountains called 'Megalong Valley'... and we're both so darling. Mum took most of my photos, but there's a couple of cute ones that Dad took of us together when I was young. I used this photo for my Sew Weekly inspiration and Mum said she had two crochet cardies that she wore when she was pregnant with me... this one and a pinky one, that I have now. I adopted it as my own as a teenager, and whilst it has a few holes, I'm going to wear it through winter while I'm pregz!

xoxo

A Crochet Finish

Last week, Sue asked me if I'd started crocheting a baby blanket yet... and you can bet your bottom dollar in my pregnancy nausea (I really dislike 'morning sickness' as a term, as it's not true!) state, any moments of resting (I did get into bed at 7pm some nights, it was too tough!) I'd pull out my granny squares.

I'm heavily into greys and charcoals for our house (just wait til you see our new couch - squee!) so have framed this blanket with a lovely lego like grey, with orange, yellow and ultramarine type squares... It's almost finished now, just need to pull all the loose ends through, and wash it out, steam it or whatever professional crocheters do... which will probably mean I'll just wash it and lay it flat somewhere right?

(I honestly can't remember what I did with my massive bed quilt when I got to the finishing stage?)

xoxo

Sew Weekly: Becoming a Mother

Thank you all for your darling comments and positive vibes (even if you're usually just a reader/looker of my blog, thank you too! You're still a darling even if you're a lurker!), and Husbie sends his love too. We've had a magnificent and full on past 12 months, of ups and downs and swings and roundabouts, so it's really lovely sharing happy news online. I'm not often one to share the grumpy or sad news here, especially since I love creating positive things, and generally being a Positina Turner online.

Here's my Sew Weekly outfit this week, inspired by a gorgeous moment my Dad photographed of my Mum and I (the photo is just too cute!)... as we're all sewing along with Mother's and Family as our inspiration. I tried to interpret the colours she was wearing, but to make it a comfy and practical maternity outfit, because let's face it... I have a lot of growing to do over the next 4.5 months and stretch knit is the fabric for me to grow with.

The cardigan was the quickest to make, even though it was self drafted or self draped (!) as I just used my mannequin Diana to judge where the sleeve holes would sit, and I'm happy enough with the fit and the style as the loose drapey bits at the front can be wrapped across the front, tied at the back (Husbie discovered that one) and cuddled up to my neckline to create a scarf if I'm wearing wintery jackets over the top... so very practical for a pregz wintertime in Melbs... that's why I went for slim fitting sleeves, so I can wear under jackets.

The stretch knit dress is a Built By Wendy adaption (that book is, as I always say, invaluable for those tempting to use an overlocker) but this time I tried to channel Carolyn as well... as her stretch knit creates, and finishing with binding instructions are to DIE for in detail and she's really good at explaining her process. Her garments are always immaculate!

My neckline here is a little wonky, as I made it scoopier that the Built By Wendy allowed, I think I should have overlocked the binding a little tighter to 'pull it in' as I went along, as the binding now is a little loose (for you guys who care about detail, you can see in this shot below...) but I guess my bust will continue to grow too, so maybe a bit of wear and ironing could get that tighter?

Here's a shot of the cardigan, one long rectangle:

That's my favourite 'bump' shot out of the lot! And the one below is my favourite (and Husbie's too) photograph from our quick little early morning fashion shoot in West Footscray... and I'm sure not the last! Thank you again for your lovely wishes and I'll see you soon xoxo

Our news xoxo

You may be wondering why I haven't taken as many 'selfies' (thank my Instagram friends for that!) around here, as there have been times where I haven't felt human enough to even get out of bed (let alone taking a photograph of myself) this year, and that's because... Husbie and I are expecting our first child in September!

We're halfway through now, and had a great healthy ultrasound this week, and feel a lot more comfortable being pregnant than the first 4 months! I wanted to share the news with you a bit earlier, but my creating and blogging mojo hasn't been the best... you probably could tell! But, I feel so much better this past month, starting prenatal yoga and being healthy... and now that I'm finishing up my mad work commitments and relaxing my extra curricular activities (LOL), I'm smooth sailing!

As I haven't felt so crafty, my darling friend gave me a whole bunch of beautiful floppy and flowy dresses to wear, as I 'popped' out and became really uncomfortable in my normal clothes in the past few weeks. These photos show a gorgeous vintage maternity dress, that I'm sure I'll get a lot of wear out of this winter! But how hilarious is Doris Day waiting patiently!? She's such a funny little dog!

This week, I finally found a bit of sewing mojo and made up some super comfy stretch clothes, and if you're keen, the post is up on Sew Weekly for the Mother's Day themed week... but I'll pop the photos up here too.

Thank you for still being a lovely friend here, you've stuck through a wishy washy season of my blog, and I really appreciate all your little check ins and your comments! I'm really excited about the rest of the year, and hope to share more news with you soon!

xoxo

A Mini Break to Fitzroy

Over the weekend, we took some time out, and had a holiday in.... Melbourne! As Doris Day the Dog is away at college, we booked one night at a Fitzroy hotel as a little 'getaway' and revisited a lot of old hangouts and new places! Husbie and I both (at different times) lived around the Gertrude Street area of Fitzroy, but when you live in the west, work in the south, we just don't visit our old areas of Melbourne as often.

The photo above is from the Crepe Shop, which reminds me of special treats as my bestie and I started popping by once it first opened up. These days there are so many gorgeous cafes and restaurants, but we had to spend lunch at the Crepe Place on a cold Melbourne afternoon!

BUT! It's a shopping deathtrap along old Gertrude Street.. however since it's Mother's Day coming up, we found some gorgeous presents for the women in our lives!

I'm contributing to the Sew Weekly this week as well, as it's family and Mother's Day themed... I'll have my post update here too! xoxo

Dog College

I just realised that last weekend's blog post No to Pink coincided with the start of Sew Weekly's Pink theme, and being HORRIFIED, I'd like to point out that my No to Pink is strictly for the garden! I have really enjoyed seeing some of the pink garments being made this week, I just have an unfortunate dislike for my pink flowers blooming all over my blooming garden - LOL!

(Did you know I've since found two cactus plants that have both sprouted flouro pink flowers!)

Anyways, after yet another busy week at my day job (I'm sitting and making cardigans as I blog though!) I'm astonished that it's MAY and my efforts of blogging to you have been so up and down... it happens sometimes though, right? Your day to day gets whirled away and sometimes your passions like sewing and blogging gets prioritised differently... I still have mammoth lists of things to blog about and things to make for my '100 Things' this year, so it'll slowly slowly slowly come together. I feel blogging is better if you don't put pressure on deadlines to post etc, for me anyways... I have too many deadlines at work anyways...

BUT, have you ever heard of Dog College? Our darling Doris Day has been enrolled (by Husbie) to attend Dog College and get some qualifications... you may *not* have heard of Dog College before because it's what we've made up to tell Doris Day she's going to training at a (caring) kennel place! We thought it sounded smarter than training or obedience school... it's college because she's practically a grown up dog, and we'd love her to have some grown up dog skillz. You know, like being polite and staying on the ground instead of eating all the fruit bowl and SUGAR bowl from the kitchen table. Yes, we've often walked into the kitchen and she's atop the table nom-ing on down.

Dog College will teach her all the grown up things, and we get a day with the teachers afterwards to follow up on all the learnings... If we weren't starting Husbie's new business and not volunteering to help out the comedy festival and working so much, I bet we can do it ourselves... but! Alas we have time to love her completely! (Did I tell you she goes with Husbie when he's freelancing around at other people's production houses? People are so kind, she's like his little assistant... but her only job is to make people happy!)

Anyways, she left this week, and we've got a weekend free to RELAX and have a mini holiday! More soon on our quickie getaway!

xoxo Hope you all have a great weekend!