Mayhem

Today's the start of 2 1/2 weeks of craziness in our household - three birthdays and Christmas in the space of 19 days.  Here's a quick rundown of what I've been up to in the lead-up to birthday season...

I made two lengths of this felt bunting (no-fray => less stitching required) to decorate the church hall for the kids' party.  I printed the letters onto paper, then cut the paper and felt together and stitched them on with a straight stitch.  Reasonably quick, and we'll use it for years to come.

Made to measure felt crown (double layer of felt for more body), with lace and ric-rac that used to belong to my Grandma.

The Kinderboy and I picked just under 11kg of [tiny but sweet] apricots from our tree, then enlisted the Ipswich nieces to help us sort and cut them.  We gave away some, ate some, and swapped some for lemons with the lady across the road, and now I have 15 jars of apricot jam cooling downstairs (not the best job on a 35 degree day, but the apricots don't give you a choice!)

Last of all, I had a morning off and finally finished some stretch linen pants for myself from the Spring/Summer 2012 Ottobre Woman magazine.   Strangely, I had to shorten them by 20cm to get to the length shown in the magazine.  I'm short, but not that short, so I'm not sure what the story is - its the first time I've used any of their women's patterns, so I guess I'll keep an eye out on sizing in the future as well.  Sorry about the lack of modeled shots - I'm lousy at taking them myself, and too self-conscious to ask the family to do it!

Next on the agenda are some class Christmas cards (as shown here), and finishing off some Christmas presents.  I have a hankering for new clothes for myself though, and Darn Cheap Fabrics has a sale on, so a diversion may be on the cards.  In the meantime, I'm going to settle for heading over to Village Voices for more crafty ideas (it's where I first saw the cards too).