Baby Shower Gift: Flat Teddy Tutorial and Pattern

Abby from Things for Boys is due to have baby number 2 soon, and Laura from Craftstorming had the great idea to throw a virtual baby shower. And today’s the big day (hopefully my gift arrived in time!).

When I first got the email from Laura, I knew exactly what I was going to make:

Jacob’s favourite snuggly toy (that must be there at bedtime) is flat puppy. Here’s a baby photo of Jacob and flat puppy together (flat puppy is looking a lot more worn these days…):

I used to put flat puppy in the cot with Jacob to give him something to self-soothe at night. I’m not sure if it made any difference to him sleeping through as a baby, but it definitely gives him comfort now when he’s feeling tired. (Celeste, on the other hand, chooses a different “favourite” toy to sleep with on a daily basis – such different kids!)

While flat puppy was made from a teddy material, I used minky dots – easier to find at my local fabric store, and soft and cuddly. I also decided to go with a teddy, rather than a puppy. It’s easy enough to change to a puppy or bunny by modifying the ear pattern.

The face is embroidered with a matching yarn – just what I had in my stash. I love the subtlety of the matching colours (and it hides my average embroidery skills!).

So let’s see how  I made this soft and snuggly toy (which I hope Abby and baby love!):

Dynamo Maximum Review and Giveaway

Dynamo sent me a sample of the new Dynamo Maximum to review. I’m a long time Dynamo user, so I was curious to see the maximised version, with even more cleaning power. Now that I have kids, I need all the cleaning power I can get! And just to prove I’m not pretending to be a Dynamo user, here’s what’s normally in my laundry along with the sample:

(Yep, I’m a big fan of shopping in bulk!)

My kids must have known about this review because they kindly gave me a giant puke (mostly over Mum!), a nappy “number 2” leak and a set of wet bed sheets, along with the usual food spills (plus my kids like to wipe their hands and faces on their clothes), for testing purposes. AKA just another week with a 2yo and 4yo. (Sorry if that was too much information!)

I also threw in another these extra challenges: the kitchen face washer (see above - which doesn’t get washed anywhere near as often as it should) and my scummiest tea towel (below), which is burnt from the hot pizza stone.

Dynamo Maximum has top loader and front loader variants. I tested the front loader version. Two capfuls into the wash (which seemed like a lot compared to other liquids) and switch the machine on (with my usual settings of 30°C and Cotton and Linens).

The result: clean, fresh smelling clothes, but not an overpowering smell (which I don’t like about a lot of powders). It’s a liquid, so no worries about undissolved powder on the clothes or wondering how well it’s distributed in the load.  The usual food stains were all gone, and no trace of the nappy leak. No smell of urine or vomit either. Yay – just what I look for in a laundry liquid. The kitchen wash cloth was looking renewed:

It’s not a miracle maker though: my poor tea towel will never be the same, but it came out much cleaner than I expected (with no soaking or other pre-treatment)!

I made sure the photo was the same section!

Dynamo Maximum is available in all leading supermarkets throughout Australia in 1L (RRP: $9.99) and 2L (RRP: $16.99) variants.

Would you like to win a 2L bottle of Dynamo Maximum? I have 2x top loader and 2x front loader bottles to give away. To enter, leave a comment below telling me the most embarrassing stain you’ve ever had to remove. Include whether you have a top loader or front loader. I’ll select my 4 favourite entries.Giveaway is open to Australian residents only (sorry!).

Entries close Friday 17th May at 4pm Western Australian Standard time. Winners will be notified by email and this blog post will be updated to included the winners names.

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post for Dynamo and Digital Parents Collective.

Help for all things Homemaking

Do you consider yourself a homemaker? Have you mastered all things homemaking?

I’ve never really considered myself a homemaker, but well, I guess I am the glue holding this house together. There are a million and one little things that I do that help the house run smoothly (ha! somewhat smoothly!).

I’m a long, long way away from mastering homemaking (whatever impression this blog may give you). I regularly go to bed with dirty dishes on the stove, toys scattered throughout the house, and a long list of things that just didn’t get done.

I’m always on the look-out for tools to help me control the chaos, and this week only, an AMAZING bundle of homemaking books is available:

I can hear your freaking out – where am I going to find time to read 97 eBooks? I can’t even find time to make the bed. Yes, this is a huge bundle, but not every book is going to be relevant to your needs right now. The topics include:

• Home & Property {Cleaning, Organizing, Decor}
• Educational Children's Resources
• Budgeting {Finance & Time}
• In the Kitchen {Recipes and Cooking}
• Pregnancy & Baby Care
• Holidays & Special Events
• Spiritual Growth
• Marriage & Romance
• Motherhood
• Health & Fitness
• Beauty
• Working from Home & Blogging
• E-courses

Along with another $140 of bonus offers (some only available in the US).

Personally, I’m well passed the pregnancy and baby stage and I’m not a spiritual person, so those don’t interest me. I already own “One Bite At A Time”, which is an excellent resource in chipping away at the jobs you know you should be doing.

Hare are the books that caught my eye are – I’ve either wanted to read them in the past but struggle with finding the budget for eBooks, or that really spark my interest:

I’m sure my husband will also be pleased with “Kitchen Stewardship in the Big Woods: Family Camping Handbook”. (Yes, I have actually purchased this bundle for myself.) So in that small list alone, I’ve more than covered the $29.95 cost. Plus more books and bonuses that I’m sure I’ll find interesting.

Will I actually find time to read all of the eBooks? I’m loading them on my Kindle so I can read in small bites when I get the chance. One of the great things about eBooks. I like to have something to read before going to sleep each night.

Check out all 97 homemaking titles here – a great resource list and a bargain price. The deal ends at 11:59 p.m. (US) EST on May 4th.

What are your biggest homemaking struggles?

Kids Clothes Week – Done!

I went into Kids Clothes Week with an ambitious plan of sewing 11 items of clothing for my two kids. I’d cut all the fabric out ahead of time, and just had to get down and sew. I’m happy to say I sewed 10.5 items. I didn’t expect to get so far, especially with school holidays being on. I must be getting quicker!

So you’ve already seen the leggings, bloom dress, dressing gown and hoodie. Next up, we have pyjama craziness.

We had a brief cool snap about a month ago, and I realised that the kids had no winter pyjamas. I quickly whipped up a pair of flannel PJ pants for both of them, which was all they needed for then (it wasn’t that cold), but they still needed the tops and an extra full set each.

The pattern is the Goodnight, Sweetheart PJs from the book Sewing for Boys. The fabric for both of Jacob’s pairs are flannel that I picked up as part of a bulk lot on Freecycle more than a year ago. The piping was made using store-bought bias tape.

I wish I’d used a contrasting colour for the bias tape on the navy pyjamas to make them more fun. I just used what I had on hand.

The buttons are from my stash. I only had 3 cream coloured teddy bears, so I used one white one, and placed it on the white on the fabric.

I used the same top pattern for Celeste, but for the pants, I used the yoga pant pattern from Sewing Mod Kid Style, just because I didn’t have wide enough fabric of the lions print. I made them a size 6 width, since flannel doesn’t stretch and that was the biggest size I could squeeze out of my fabric (leftover from these pyjamas!).

The pink flannel and aqua piping is leftover from her big girl bed quilt cover backing – more details of that one soon…

The butterfly print was purchased at Spotlight.

Buttons were from my stash. I once again only had 3 pink stars, so I added a pink flower. A little random, but good enough for nightwear!

Finally, I made a pinwale cord skirt for Celeste with a velvet ribbon trim. The pattern is “Tammy” from Ottobre Design 6/2008. It’s lined with light pink acetate (I think, from a project I never got around to sewing for myself!). I seriously love this skirt and wish it was in my size. I’m tempted to buy more fabric for me!

The final item on my list was a pair of green cord pants for Jacob. I worked away on them in bits and pieces on Sunday, including my first welt pockets. By Sunday night, I’d got to the point of adding the fly-front zip and my brain was frazzled. I was too tired to work out how to do it, so I packed up for the week. I’ll get back to that soon…

I’m over the moon with the big stack of clothes I made. I’ve wanted my kids wardrobes to have a greater percentage of handmade clothes, and this week has made a big difference.

How did your kids clothes week go?

Hoodie for the Boy

When preparing for Kids Clothes Week, I headed to my local fabric chain with a long list in hand. My kids have next to no winter clothes that fit, and a hoodie for Jacob was on the list. I was so uninspired by the boy fleece options – the boyish colours are just so drab. In fact, the range of fleece was all pretty boring. I was about to give up, when hidden away I found this navy print:

This is seriously cool fabric – almost wasted on a 4yo boy. Maybe I should go back and buy some more…

The pattern is the “Be Careful Out There Hoodie” from Ottobre Design 4/2012. The pattern is for jersey , but the fleece had a lot of stretch so it worked out fine. The pattern is more for a long-sleeve T-shirt hoodie than a jumper/sweater, so it’s narrower than store-bought fleece ones, but I think that suits my slender boy. He doesn’t look lost in it or get in the way of playing.

The ribbing is dark navy that I found in a thrift store a while ago. I debated using a more contrasting colour, but I’m happy I stuck with navy – it lets the fabric pattern shine. I also didn’t do the contrast top-stitching in the pattern for the same reason. I didn’t line the hood either since the fleece back was so snuggly!

I didn’t get as much sewing time on Day 3 of Kids Clothes Week as I would have liked, so only managed to do the shell of the hoodie, up to putting the zip in. I was a little nervous, having never done a zip placket like this, but it went in surprisingly easy (especially since the Ottobre instructions are so brief!). There is a tiny pucker at the bottom, but I’m sure I’m the only one that will notice that!

So I finished it off on Day 4. I feel like I’m behind on the mammoth list I set myself, so I needed another quick project to perk me up – a quick pair of pyjama pants for Jacob. I’ll finish the top before I show you that one.

So 5 items down in 4 days, 6 more to go – I’ll need a lot of time at the sewing machine to get them all done. Let’s see how we go!

Two days of kids clothes (so far)

Kids Clothes Week is on and I’m up for the challenge. One hour a day of sewing kids clothes – I can do that. I’ve set myself the ambitious target of sewing 11 pieces of clothing for my kids. I probably won’t quite make it, but we’ll see how things go (and my kids desperately need cold weather clothing!).

I planned ahead, and traced and cut all the patterns ahead of time. I like the idea of just getting into the sewing. And now that all 11 items are cut out, I have to make them sometime. The list includes a dress, skirt, hoodie, pyjamas, leggings and pants – no cookie cutter sewing here!

I decided to start with a quick win and went for a pair of leggings for Celeste. The pattern was from the book “Sewing Mod Kid Style” and the fabric was a pink Stella knit from my stash.  Quick to whip up and the fit looks good.

With time leftover on day one, I thought I’d stick with knits, since I had a ball point needle in my sewing machine. I went with the Bloom dress from the same book, in a fun bright green flower print in Jersey (by Ann Kelle for Robert Kaufman – previously blogged for Fav Fabric Friday – yes, I actually do buy the fabrics I recommend!).

The dress is simple with a slight A-line. The next isn’t sitting very well at the moment, but I’m hoping it will settle down after a few washes. I’m thinking about a belt/sash or something as it looks a bit like a nightie to me. Maybe it’s that it’s a bit too big at the moment too.

I love the bright green colour – fun and a bit different for a girl.

So that was more than enough sewing for day one (and well more than one hour!). On to day two, and I stuck with projects requiring a ball point needle – this time a bathrobe for Celeste for winter.

I used a fleece for my local chain fabric store and the Beach Robe pattern from Made. I made the bias tape from a fat quarter. There wasn’t enough to edge the belt pieces, so I just made a normal belt with two pieces of fabric sewn together and turned.

I made the largest size (3-4) even though Celeste is in Size 2 just so she’d get a lot of wear out of it. With the belt, you only really notice it in the sleeves, so they’ll just be folded up this year (and maybe next year!).

So two days down, three cute pieces for Celeste. Time to do a little bit of boy sewing on Day 3, methinks!

How is your Kids Clothes Week going?

Getting out of the breakfast rut

I’ve always struggled to eat breakfast. My stomach just doesn’t wake up first thing in the morning (a bit like the rest of me!). I know breakfast is important, so I’ve always forced myself to eat it. I’m not too creative first thing in the morning, so it’s usually toast for me, and occasionally muesli – I wish I had the time and energy for cooked breakfasts (which I’d probably enjoy more), but it’s not going to happen!

There are times when I’m sick of toast or cereal. Then I get funny looks from my husband when I eat seedy crackers or other random food for breakfast. (I remember reading once that a chocolate bar for breakfast was still better than no breakfast at all – I’ve never done that though!).

When I was offered a sample of belVita Cranberry Breakfast Biscuits, I was intrigued (and also in a breakfast rut, so the timing was perfect). Here’s part of the marketing spiel:

belVita can help, offering a delicious and easy way to fuel busy mornings.  belVita has a unique point of difference: not only is it tasty and convenient, it is the only biscuit that is scientifically shown to deliver 4 hours of sustained energy release – helping mums to be at their personal best for the morning mumathlon.

To put them to the test, I ate them for breakfast before my first day as Kindy Parent Helper - sustained energy release was definitely needed, helping 17 fun-filled 4 year olds !

A serving is 4 biscuits, with 6 individually-wrapped servings in the box. The biscuits were smaller than I expected, but I ate my serving with a mug of flat white (belVita recommends including a piece of fruit to make a balanced breakfast – fruit comes later in the day for me!).

What did they taste like? A bit sweeter than what I’d normally like for breakfast, but nowhere near as sweet as a lot of breakfast cereals (or the biscuits I make for the kids!). The sweetness was mainly from the dried cranberries (aren’t they popping up everywhere these days?), so it wasn’t sickly/sugary sweet. You can see the wholegrains in the biscuits, but they are chopped up so the biscuits aren’t too chewy (I have problems with chewy food for breakfast). Overall, it was a nice flavour and easy to eat (and my kids liked them too – can’t eat biscuits in front of them without them wanting some too!).

I’m usually starving by mid morning, and I was concerned about the smallish serving size, but after a morning hanging out with kindy kids (oh my gosh, they’re cute!), I wasn’t hungry until about 11am – well after my usual morning snack time and about 4 hours after breakfast.

I won’t have these for breakfast every day, but will keep a packet in the cupboard for when I’m struggling with the usual breakfast options, or I’m in a rush and want something for the road. I’m curious to taste the fruit-free flavours to see if they are not as sweet. As well as cranberry, they come in Honey & Nut with choc chip, Milk & Cereals, Crunchy Oats, and Fruit & Fibre.

What do you eat for breakfast when you can’t face toast or cereal again?

Disclosure: belVita breakfast biscuits were provided to me for free for review purposes as part of Product Talk by Nuffnang. All opinions are my own.