Bubby Sleeping Bags

I had quiet a few friends suggest I make these "Sleeping Bags" a few years ago and Talia has been living in them since she was about 3mths old, as my cousin let me borrow hers (thanks Carolyn! love ya!). So I made some with a tiny opening to fit a "Child car seat buckle" through it. This means you can pick bub up from your babysitter (my mum's after teaching acrobats on a Monday night...) and if they are all "snug-as-a-bug" asleep in their sleeping bag there is no need to wake them up to take them out of it to fit them in the car seat!

Since I have made these, I love using them when I know I'll be transporting bub around during sleep times late at night.

I made a fleecy sleeping bag for winter and I have never got around to taking any photo's of it.

We have had a few very hot summer days lately, so I made a new sleeping bag with the lightest cotton that I had in my scraps. It's not the latest in colour or fabric, but I added on a flower to try and jazz it up a bit....

I struggled using the metal press-stud clasps and hated the fact that I had to use a hammer and wait until Talia woke up until I started hammering away... or that I couldn't use it when everyone has gone to bed, my most productive sewing hours! When I am that close to finishing something, I just want to be able to finish it now, otherwise I might throw it in the corner and forget about it.....

But these are so easy to sew (apart from the clasps) and I made it in an hour!

Cheers Lee-Anne

Jeggins!!

I absolutely loved making these Jeggings and I was so appreciative when Karen from Dear My Kids (DMK) asked me to be a tester for the pattern. Talia has worn them so much since I have made these and they are a nice quick project for anyone wanting to try sewing stretch.

Here is a Black Jegging made it a heavy weight cotton lycra with grey swirls on it. I love these!

Here is a Denim Jegging made in a light weight denim blue cotton lycra. They look too cute in the denim blue colour. They are both available in my ETSY shop!

Here are the Black Jeggins on my little tester!

The Jeggings are for sale in HeavenLee's ETSY shop in Denim Blue or Black for any Trendy girl or boy!

DMK patterns are easy to read, print and construct. Jeggings pattern available now in "Dear My Kids" ETSY shop.

Cheers Lee-Anne

Closing of my favourite Fabric Store!

Today I decided to take a trip to my favourite Fabric store(Fabric Gallery), which is just a convenient 5mins drive, and I was so shocked to find out they are closing! NOOOO!!!!!! Their sales have dropped so much in the last 6 months, that no-one is sewing anymore, sewers even opting for the China made BigW, KMart, Target clothes for their special occasion wear.... and they can't compete, NOOO (bloody GFC), where's everyones creativity!!!!! Where am I going to go for my quick 4.45pm Saturday emergency's? Maybe I'll need to get organised and not sew "that" top or dress hours before we run out the door, ummmm.... can't see that happening!

I made a dress for a client over a month ago and nothing seemed to go right for me! It was beautiful fabric that just didn't suit the type of dress. I tried a few ways to get it to fit, but nothing seem to work. I unpicked, bought more fabric, re-cut, re-lined, re-sew, days later and still no luck. I was so frustrated and disappointed that I couldn't get it right. To top it off, it all happened on the week we received some terrible family news...... so my creative streak was not there.... So sorry Emma..... :(

Anyway, here are some pics of the dress on the dummy. How can a simple looking dress cause me so much grief! Chiffon you use to be my favourite, now I official hate chiffon!

Cheers Lee-Anne

"In The Night Garden" party ideas

We had our daughters 1st birthday party and it was sooo much fun! She loves the show In The Night Garden (ITNG) and the character "Upsy Daisy" from the show, so we had a Upsy Daisy themed party for her. However, the party decorations were very limited! So I went on a mission to create my own and what a great way to let my imagination go crazy!

Bunting/Preyer Flags
I couldn't find any ITNG or Upsy Daisy material anywhere, so I bought some Size 5 PJ's of EBay for $1.50 and cut them up! Hubby thought I was crazy..... I used some scrap bright fushia pink cotton for the backing and ended up with over 30 flags! Rolled hemmed the edges and done! They looked great and I can't wait to decorate her room with them!

Milestone Daisy's

I bought a few sheets of orange and pink cardboard and cut out some large daisy's. On one side I had pictures of the ITNG characters and the other side I put photo's of my daughters milestones throughout her first year. I also used my scrapbooking scraps for some different paper and to write a brief description of her milestone. I'm going to put the daisy's in a scrapbook and with a few more photo's and she has her first year photobook done!

Name Banner

While I was cutting out a heap of Daisy's I kept some to make a Name Banner "1 TALIA 1". I glittered some letters for her name with pink glitter and used orange Rafia to tie them together. I have hung them in her room and she loves waking up looking at them.

Daisy Tags

I printed a heap of pictures of each of the characters and used them for various decorations. I glued the small round pictures (the size of Cupcake toppers) to the left over orange and pink card and made heaps of circle tags. I glued these to the end of Kebab sticks and we had ITNG Salad & Fruit kebabs, there were a hit with the kidlets. I also did some kebab sticks with daisys on and put them around the garden and the entry way. You can glue the little round cardboard pictures to anything, for example, straws, plastic cups, game prizes, name tags, champagne & wine labels, wine glasses tags, kebab sticks, cake decorations, lolly-pop sticks, party hats, party blowers,favour and lolly bags, blue tack some on the floor to create a path out to the garden (the kids loved looking at these on the floor)... Even make some Daisy toothpicks with a flower hole punch using the scrap cardboard......see pictures below for some idea's.

Ninky Nonk Juice

Every ITNG party needs some Ninky Nonk Juice! Download a picture from the internet and write "Ninky Nonk Juice" and stick this to some fruit punch and eski's!

Welcome Sign

Print out a picture of your childs favourite ITNG characher and write "Welcome to Talia's 1st Birthday party!"

ITNG Games

Here are a few game idea's. You can "Pin the blanket to Iggle Piggle" (we ran out of time to play this one). I cut a heap of red material into squares and photocopied a picture of Iggle Piggle onto A3. I printed out some colouring in "Upsy Daisy & Iggle Piggle Door Hangers" and left them for the kids to colour in, they loved it! You can get this from the BBC website. I gave the kids their own tag each with a different character and their name on the other side, they then had to find their present with their ITNG character on it, it kept them busy for a while.

Here are a few idea's for a kids party and most of them don't need any sewing! You can also apply these to any party theme, as you can get so many pictures from the internet now!

I hope I continue to do this for all my kids future birthdays party's! It was so much fun and they create the perfect party atmosphere. My husband thought I went a bit crazy, but they only have birthday party's once a year, so why not!

Enjoy! Lee-Anne

1st birthday dress

Here is a cute little dress I made for Talia's 1st birthday party. I bought the "Double Ruffle Knot Top" pattern from Little Lizard King on Etsy as it looked like a cute party dress. I used a bright flower patterned cotton with Fushia coloured cotton to match, as her party was an "Upsy Daisy" theme (from In The Night Garden). I also added a layer of Net to give the dress a 'party' feel, and of course a glittered number "1" on the front!

Here is the b'day girl in her dress!

I also made the Fabric Flower using the Little Lizard King tutorial

Here she is with mummy & daddy!

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY TALIA!!!
Love Mummy xxx

Talia's 1st birthday!

Our baby girl was 1 today! I can not believe how fast the last year has gone, I hope the next years don't go too fast. In the last 2 days, she has cut through 3 teeth, now she has 6 teeth. She is not walking by herself yet, but maybe soon... She seems to be quiet happy jumping around on her knee's. Here is a few pics of her on the morning of her b'day when she tried on her party dress that mummy made! Another great pattern from Etsy, I'll post about that soon!



















We had a wonderful day for her birthday and she has been so spoilt. We waited for daddy to come home from work and then we unwrapped presents!
Look at my presents and I am 1! and look at me giving my Upsy Daisy doll kisses!!!



















Here is a picture of her celebrating on Thursday at DayCare..



















We have a party planned for Sunday and I can't wait! Now I know when my friends love doing their kids birthday parties, they are soooo much fun! I'm sure we have too much food, too much fruit punch, too many lollies and handmade too many decorations, but it will be a great day spent with wonderful family & friends and our girl only turns 1 once! So why not, hey!
Cheers Lee-Anne