Sew me a fumberlant

School Dress For Alannah

noreply@blogger.com (sewmeafumberlant) — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 21:00:00 +0000

When we moved to Switzerland Alannah was bitterly disappointed to discover that they don't wear school uniforms here. As an almost 5 year old about to start school in Australia, getting her first uniform and feeling like a big school kid was a really exciting thing. But we left just before this happened. So I promised I would make her a school uniform like dress. After a bit of searching I had my heart set on a the Oliver + S, Jump Rope Dress but at the time it was out of print and I could not find a copy.

Last year the Jump Rope Dress pattern was digitally released and I bought my first ever digital pattern. Which I like for the convenience of getting the pattern so quickly but I still prefer a printed pattern, probably because our printer is not the greatest, plus with such a detailed dress it took quite some time to put all the pages together.

I chose Anna Maria Horner's, Buoyancy in Deep for the fabric. Love this fabric, it has the right school dress colouring but is so much prettier.

Finally 3 weeks ago (after spending months procrastinating over weather to sew a white collar or use the dress fabric) with the school year end rapidly approaching, I started sewing. As with all the Oliver + S patterns I have sewn to date I found this dress came together perfectly. It has lots of details like a placket, collar, sleeves with cuffs, pockets and a belt with belt loops, so it took some time to construct, but it was well worth the effort.

I sewed up size 7 and made no alterations to the fit. The dress fits Alannah (who is a smallish to average size 7 year old) great with room to grow so hopefully will fit after the summer holidays as well, especially as we only have one and a half weeks of school left till Summer Holidays.

Alannah loves her "school uniform" dress and so do I. I think it has the feel of a school uniform but is so much lovelier.

Schweizer Frauenlauf 2013

noreply@blogger.com (sewmeafumberlant) — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 20:35:00 +0000

Scott and I have really been enjoying running lately. We have been entering a few races and I am hoping to find the time to run a little more and get fit enough to enter my first half marathon later this year. Today though was just for us girls, participating in the Swiss Woman's Run in Bern.

I ran the 5km race and Alannah and Xanthe ran the 500m race. Philippa is still to little but she enjoyed cheering us on with Daddy.

This was the girls first run ever, not just race but first time going for a run. They both enjoyed the run and look forward to their next.

Alannah at the start line

Alannah arm in arm with another girl from the race, yep she managed to make a friend in a 3minuite 500m race!

Xanthe nearing the finishing line.

The atmosphere was great, with well over 10,000 women of all ages running and walking in various distance events. We don't plan on the girls becoming serious runners but we really enjoy the fun and excitement of being involved in such a big social sporting event and it was nice to share that with our girls.

Another mesanger bag

noreply@blogger.com (sewmeafumberlant) — Sat, 08 Jun 2013 21:52:00 +0000

I love giving the girls something handmade by me as a present. So after constantly stealing her sisters messenger bags, I made Philippa her own Oliver + S messenger bag for her birthday. She loves it, this bag goes with us everywhere.

Again like with Alannah's bag I used essentially homemade binding to attach a buckle to the bag. Philippa loves having the buckle even though she is only able to close and not open it!

The fabric I used is super cute a upholstery weight fabric from a local store Creasphere. The only catch is that it is a directional print which means if I cut the back/front flap in one piece either the front flap or the back would be upside down. So I sewed a front flap and back together with a seam on the top fold. To cover the seam and because I happened to have some super cute owl ribbon in coordinating colours I decided to sew a strip of it across the seam. The fabric was all fussy cut giving regard to the owl design of the fabric.

The lining was a combination of an aqua owl print called "on a Whim" by Amy Schimler and "Dot to Dot" in Coral from the Children at play line of fabric by Sarah Jane, both from my stash. I also used the "Dot to Dot" for the buckle binding. The rest of the bag binding is a Michael Miller "Ta Dot" in Breeze also from the stash. Infact the whole bag was made from materials in my stash, some bits like the buckles and webbing used for the strap were stashed with thoughts of making more of these adorable bags. As was the owl outer fabric, sorry Soul that was intended for your bag, promise yours will be just as awesome.

Oh and in case you were wondering the dress Philippa is wearing is a Felix dress that I made for Xanthe's 3rd birthday (pre Blog). Using an out of print Sandi Henderson line of fabric.

Making a Number 3 Piñata

noreply@blogger.com (sewmeafumberlant) — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 20:48:00 +0000

For Alannah's 5th birthday I had about 6 attempts at making a pinata with the paper mache method but had no success, lots of fun but no usable pinata. So I thought I would try the cardboard method this time. Which was sooooo much easier and more successful with the added bonus of no messy gloopy glue and temperature sensitive popping balloons. I must admit the kids were a little disappointed about the lack of gloopy glue...........I found this great number 1 pinata on Chelsea's, The Sweetest Occasion blog. Using this as inspiration I embarked on making a 3 pinata.

Here is what you need:

About 4hrs (less without kid help)
A3 sheet of paper (if you wish to make template first), single thickness strongish cardboard (I used a packing box) and cardboard cereal box.
masking tape
glue stick
scissors that can cut cardboard and/or a craft knife
crepe paper, I used 5 colours as that is what I had on hand.

I started by making a template of the 3 shape on an A3 piece of paper. As you can see the girls enjoyed decorating this once I had finished using it.

I then traced this onto the sides of our packing box card and cut out 2 identical 3's to form the front and back of the pinata. Yes we moved 2 years ago, but due to having a huge basement we still have all of our packing boxes. Which now I have discovered how much fun cardboard crafting can be will be very handy!

I used the larger panels from a cereal packed cut in half for the sides. Taped them carefully at right angles to the front with small pieces of masking tape. I left a hole at the top for filling with treats later. I also reinforced the around the opening using 2 layers of cereal box card and lots of tape. Then put 2 holes in each side and attached double thickness string to allow for hanging.

To prepare the paper fringe, cut about 2 inches from the roll of crepe paper. Then keeping it folded cut half way up at approx 1/4 inch intervals.

I used 5 colours of crepe paper so roughly I measured 5 even sections on the pinata marked them with a pencil and started papering from the bottom up. Due to the overlapping fringe I should have made the bottom layer an inch wider and the top an inch skinner.

To cover the 3, I started by gluing a flat layer of the green paper over the bottom curve of the 3. Then working on the front side about an inch from the bottom of the 3 I started working around with the fringed paper. I used a glue stick to stick down the uncut edges. The unusual shape of the 3 did make it a little complicated to cover, but just keep working your way up from the bottom covering all the card.

I filled the pinata with treats just before the party and covered the hole with crepe paper so it looked finished. All in all it took me about 4hrs to make, and cost less than 4 CHF to make.

We have another birthday to celebrate in a couple of weeks so will be giving a 5 a go soon....

Philippa's 3rd Birthday

noreply@blogger.com (sewmeafumberlant) — Fri, 31 May 2013 20:32:00 +0000

Unfortunately despite it being well into Spring Philippa's birthday was cold and wet, so plans of a relaxed afternoon in the garden fell to the wayside and I needed to work out how to occupy 11 children and their parents inside our not so big house. Organised games are not so easy or fun for 3 year olds so I decided to make lots playdough, clear out the play room and let them go crazy. While I think playdough is great I very rarely let the kids play with it indoors as it makes such a mess. So for the first time ever I made playdough and boy was it fun and easy to make. I made 5 batches in 4 different colours. One batch and a little of the first 4 batches we packaged up into small plastic containers with a thank you note on top for the kids as a take home gift.

The playdough was a big hit. I am very glad I spent the time cleaning out the playroom as it did get everywhere............

Little kids run out of fuel quickly so after a bit of playdough play we had some afternoon tea. I have found fancy foods and too much choice do not impress kids so they feasted on fairy bread, popcorn, chips, pretzel sticks, fruit skewers, jelly and ice cream birthday cake, fresh apple juice and water. For the adults we had flammkuechen and champagne.

After snacks we played our one and only game. Philippa insisted on wanting to have pass the parcel. I am not a big fan of this game as I find that almost all kids find it quite tedious and the single random present at the end just is not in the spirit of a party. So I changed it at bit. Each layer had an animal card and the kids had to all pretend to be the animal on the card. The idea was for the child that got the card to act it out alone but all the kids really got into it and all wanted to act each animal.

It was loads of fun for all. Even the adults joined in. The final present was a value pack of mini smarties boxes for all the kids to share.

Alligators

Elephants

Having loads of wet weather in the weeks before I even had a go making a piñata. Something I have wanted to have a go at in the past and will definitely make again, it only took one afternoon to make using cardboard and cereal packets from the recycling and crepe paper. I really enjoyed making it and the kids loved it, particularly the older (4-5 year old) boys! We were lucky enough to have the weather clear for about 30 minutes. I am still not quite sure how we would have done the piñata indoors! The piñata was a bit too strong so they all got 3 or 4 turns but the kids seemed to enjoy bashing it more than eating the lollies that dropped out, so it wasn't a bad thing. I took a few photos as I was making it so will write up a how I made this pinata soon.

Hungry again after some fresh air the kids sat down to finish the afternoon tea snacks, plus some wackelpudding (jelly) and ice cream birthday cake.

So that was Philippa's 3rd birthday.

We even tried a family shot, yep they're far from perfect, but so are we..............

we tried ...

a few times ...

but just couldn't get it right

kids!

Auntie Catherine Came to Visit

noreply@blogger.com (sewmeafumberlant) — Thu, 23 May 2013 19:16:00 +0000

Finally spring has sprung here in Basel and just in time to welcome Auntie Catherine. In Europe for work it was wonderful that she could extend her trip and spend 5 days with us. We love living here in Switzerland but we really miss our family and friends down under.

I had plans for lots of great day trips, but lets face it tripping about the place with three young kids is not always that much fun. I was so glad that Catherine was keen to just hang out and enjoy time with us. We did pick Catherine up from the train station bright and early after an over night train trip and took her straight to our favourite restaurant in Germany for breakfast. Followed by supermarket shopping, not a favourite for everyone but something my siblings and I all enjoy particularly a new supermarket in a new country.

The next day as it was a bit wet we visited the Natural History Museum in the city center and in between rain showers showed Catherine the highlights of Basel city center.

With the rest of the time we did lots of baking and cooking,

banoffee pie

Poached Chicken and Citrus Salad

walking our favourite local tracks,

watching some favourite movies

and when the sun shone hanging out in the garden.

Thanks so much Auntie Catherine for coming to visit, we all had a great time xxoo.

Cupido Cowl

noreply@blogger.com (sewmeafumberlant) — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 19:51:00 +0000

Here in Basel and I guess across Europe, winter doesn't seem to want to leave which at the moment has very few pluses, but it has meant I have had lots and lots of wear out of my cowl!!

After knitting four honey cowls in rapid sucession I was keen to try something a little different for a cowl for me. Still something quite easy as I am a beginner knitter, but a different pattern. So I did some hunting on Ravelry and found the free Cupido Cowl pattern.

I loved knitting this, it required a little more concentration than the Honey Cowl to knit but because it had more of a pattern I could see more easily where I had lost count with rows and could correct mistakes, which I found difficult with the honey cowl. I seem to knit tight (sorry I have no idea what the technical term for this is) so I could have cast on a few more stitches to make it a little bigger as it is knitted in the round, but it is still comfy and cosy as it is. I guess with more experience and practice I will work these things out.

I used the same merino + wool as the honey cowls, but in a musky pink.

I really like the pattern the stitches make and particularily like the cast off edge which is at the bottom of the photo above, the cast on is similar but shows up how I like on the inside not the outside, I really wish I knew more about knitting to work out how to swap that around, as I would love to make this again but have the start and finish edges the same.

For now I have put the knitting needles away. I am desperate for some warmer even sunnier weather so feeling the need to be prepared by sewing some dresses and new sun hats for the girls for spring, if it ever comes..........

Alannahs 7th Birthday Party

noreply@blogger.com (sewmeafumberlant) — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 21:08:00 +0000

So I was a little nervous about this birthday party. Don't get me wrong 7 year olds are lovely and extremely easy to entertain, but when those 7 year olds are Swiss and don't speak English and my Swiss German is terrible, entertaining 10 of them for 3hrs is a tad scary! I decided I need props or a craft, something that would keep the kids entertained but not require an awful lot of communication or explanation. I remembered a great birthday post from LiEr (Ikat bag) about an archery themed party and thought that would be great especially as Alannah is currently and has been for sometime obsessed with the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe book and the movie Brave. Both of which feature strong girls with a passion for archery.

PREPARATION

So with only 4 days (due to me being sick and very unmotivated) before the party we set to work making bows, arrows and quivers. When we started planning we had 15 kids coming to the party. Unfortunately I forgot to take photos of our 15 bows, 36 arrows and 15 quivers. But this is what we have left.

The bows were made almost exactly to the tutorial, using at close as we could find materials, conveniently our pipe came in 2m lengths so only one cut, and the chord was nice and silky but a large gauge so we only used one length not doubled.

The arrows were also made exactly to the tutorial, well at least half were. But Scott insisted that with the paper towel they were not weatherproof enough so improved the design by using closed cell foam and contact adhesive to fill the insulation tube and fix it to the stick.

The quivers were a little patched together as I had trouble sourcing the bits I needed. Ten had adjustable buckles the other 5 were fixed length straps. The straps were of all varying widths as to fit the buckles and webbing I could find, but the all did the job. I also had trouble finding vinyl, so had no choice but to go with hot pink, orange and black. The hot pink and orange all had black straps and the black quivers had blue green and hot pink straps. I also attached the side strap in the seam rather than on the outside of the bag, this seemed to have no effect on the functionality of the bag but made them a little quicker to sew.

THE PARTY

Excited by the fact the kids finally understand and enjoy party games, we started the party with the chocolate game, a favourite from when I was a kid. Large chocolate block, costume, knife, fork and dice. The kids sit around the chocolate block and roll the dice in turn. When a 6 is rolled the child dresses up and cuts one piece of chocolate off the block with the knife and eats it with the fork.

Then we moved outside to the hands free doughnut eating race. Doughnuts were hung from the clothesline the kids all lined up and and had to eat a doughnut as fast as possible without using their hands.

Next off to find their bows, arrows and quivers. As hoped the kids were delighted and very excited that they got to keep them and take them home. Some of the boys asked several times if they REALLY got to take the bow and arrows home.

Even though we were lucky enough to have the nicest day for weeks, it was still only 3 deg C so back inside we went to personalise their bows, arrows and quivers. Not knowing where to find fun things like washi tape and only deciding this theme 4 days before, they used electrical tapes (which come in great colours) and permanent markers.

After a very simple afternoon tea of potato chips, fruit kebabs, jelly and fairy bread it was off outside to try out the bows and play in the back garden.

Then the archery games began.

We finished the party with an "Aslan" birthday cake (decoration guide from an old Australian Womans Weekly Birthday Cake Cookbook) and opening the presents, as it was really a bit chilly to be out for to long.

Scott took the afternoon off work to help with the party (he can speak German and some Swiss) all the kids had a great time, and it wasn't so scary after all!

Messenger Bags

noreply@blogger.com (sewmeafumberlant) — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 21:37:00 +0000

I made Oliver + S Messenger Bags from Liesl Gibson's book Little Things to Sew for Xanthe and Alannah's Christmas presents. As with all Oliver + S patterns I found it to be a great pattern, very straight forward to sew together with loads of tips and a detailed pattern. There are lots of pieces but it came together quickly once the fiddly bits like the bias binding is made! I used webbing tape for the straps to save time, but the pattern details how to make your own from fabric.

I made Xanthe's bag first. As I was not really sure what to expect I made it exactly to pattern. Using a very cute hedgehog linen fabric from a local fabric shop for the exterior and a mushroom print in her favourite colour for the lining.

For Alannah's bag I didn't want to alter the overall bag but did want to add a closure of some sort. After looking around at other messenger bags, I decided on a simple plastic buckle and clip. I made some extra slightly wider binding in blue and hid the joins in the binding. It is the perfect closure nice and lightweight and easy to open for little fingers. I decided magnet closures would not work well with the front pockets which I didn't want to change, and Velcro would not have such a neat finish.

The outer fabric for Alannah's bag was a light weight striped denim I found at Ikea and the lining was also a mushroom print but in blue, Alannah's favourite colour. The hearts were free drawn and machine appliqued on, all the spotty fabric was from Sarah Jane's, "Children at Play" line of fabric. I used a plain black webbing for the strap but tarted it up a bit by sewing some red spotty ribbon around the center.

The girls love their bags and especially Alannah uses it all the time. They also happen to be very similar in size to the little messenger bags that are used to take snack to Kindergarten here in our part of Switzerland. So sometime before August I will try and make another one for Xanthe in a more Kindy friendly fabric and with a buckle.

Winter Holiday

noreply@blogger.com (sewmeafumberlant) — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 22:03:00 +0000

Winter holidays, some like to escape the cold, we prefer to enjoy it to the max! So last week we headed of to Serfaus in Austria for a week of fun in snow.

After discovering the delights of a Kinder Hotel last winter, we were eager to stay at one again this winter. Especially before the kids are old enough to ski Kinder Hotels are a great way for the whole family to have a great time in the mountains, with daycare in the hotel with great care for the littlies all day and activities for the older skiing kids in the late afternoons and evenings. Kids buffet at dinner, 5 course meal for Mummy and Daddy. Baby phones to your room and often playrooms, cinema rooms and swimming pools.

Philippa had a lovely time in the daycare crafting and playing with her best friend Eleanor and Xanthe (until she decided mid week that skiing would not be so bad). She also loved sledding from the top of the Gondola to the village with me, insisting I go faster (due to it being an icy course, Mummy was a bit of a wuss and faster we did not go!).

Pizza at 2400m, from restaurant Lassida was also a big hit with Pippa. Especially as it required two gondola rides to get there.

Lassida was also a popular lunch spot for us all.

Xanthe enjoyed daycare with Eleanor and Philippa for a couple of days, till we took her up the mountain for a morning of skiing with Mummy and Daddy, followed by an afternoon of sledding. She loved it and decided she would quite like to try ski school the next morning. She really enjoyed morning ski school for the rest of the week but also could not wait to spend her afternoons crafting in the daycare.

The highlight of the week for Xanthe would have to be coming second in her ski race on the last morning and winning her first ever medal!

Alannah enjoyed a big week of skiing. She astounded us with her improvement over the week, from a very cautious beginner to a very competent and surprisingly fast red skier. She was also super excited to place second in her ski race (and Mummy and Daddy super proud). Not one to miss out on anything she also enjoyed crafting and swimming back at the hotel every evening.

So what about Mummy and Daddy, we enjoyed the bliss of some awesome skiing, the company of our great friends and sharing our love for the mountains and skiing with our little girls and loving that they enjoyed it all to!

We all enjoyed a wonderful holiday with our great friends, it would not have been as much fun without them.

Honey Cowl

noreply@blogger.com (sewmeafumberlant) — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 20:15:00 +0000

After seeing a honey cowl knitted by Tony of Make it Perfect, I was inspired to give knitting another go. My previous attempts were a couple of beanies made with my mothers group when we decided to start a regular knitting evening.

With winter well underway and thinking a cowl would be so much more practical than a scarf for the girls. I printed off the free Honey Cowl pattern from Ravelry and stopped in a local wool shop I had noticed near the little girls' gymnastic class.

I decided to start with a small cowl for Philippa. I choose a merino + wool by LANG and she choose an olive green colour, coincidentally very similar to Tony's colour. My first attempt was so full of mistakes I unraveled it and started again. Second attempt was much improved but a bit to narrow she wore it for awhile, but after Xanthe refused to wear the light pink honey cowl I knitted her, Philippa claimed it. Much better fit don't you think?

The wool is super soft, warm, nice to knit, and washes well, which is very important when knitting for kids. Alannah loved the colour of Philippa's original cowl and so I made her one in the olive green colour.

Alannah and Philippa love their cowls and wear them daily. I really enjoyed the knitting, they were a great project for December when I was full of cold and very little energy. I definitely still have a lot to learn particularly about sizing and gauge. I tend to knit tight, so that requires casting on a few extra stitches for something simple like a cowl, still need to work out how that will affect something more complicated. Loved this pattern for a lovely practical item for the girls for winter and a good introduction back into the world of knitting for me, but I think after 4 honey cowls, I am ready to try knitting something different.

Giddy-Up

noreply@blogger.com (sewmeafumberlant) — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 07:49:00 +0000

Ok so we are still playing a little catch up here, despite being quite sick in December I made the girls each a handmade Christmas gift, that I would like to share. I had plans for much more Christmas gift sewing but in the end was happy to get the girls gifts finished. I really like to make the girls handmade presents, especially while they still love the things I make them. This year I made Philippa a hobby horse like I made her sisters the week before she was born. She has been asking for about a year to have her own horse, so was delighted to unwrap her own Mummy made pony on Christmas morning.

I used the Giddy-Up pattern by Melly & Me, great pattern but the finished result is a bit big and heavy for a 2 year old so I tried making it a little smaller. Reduced it by about an inch, except the nose as I didn't want it to look stumpy and used a much lighter, smaller diameter stick. Turned out fine although the nose is perhaps a little pointy. The size and weight is much better for a 2 year old. Alannah and Xanthe's ponies were made to pattern. If the pony is for use and not decoration I highly recommend adding some form of protective cover to the bottom of the fabric covered stick as the fabric wears very quickly. I added rubber chair foot stoppers to the end of the our horses.

Yes, you have probably noticed that none of the horses have eyes. This is because when I made the original two horses I didn't have any felt and at 39 weeks pregnant I didn't really feel like going shopping for felt for eyes. So they were declared finished as they were. As time went on and even after getting felt supplies, the girls grew attached to them without. To the point that there were tears over my plan to put eyes on Philippa's horse. So our ponies are blind and we love them that way!

Not Quite New Year and a Fresh Start

noreply@blogger.com (sewmeafumberlant) — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 21:40:00 +0000

So time to restart the blog and hopefully have a more consistent 2013.... I am not a natural writer nor would I say I am even good or particularly enjoy it, but this blog is a great record of our adventures abroad and my crafting, so I intend to do a better job of keeping it up to date.

In 2013 I plan to continue in a similar way, hopefully with less of a break!

So lets recap a little. End of June was the end of our first full school year in Switzerland. We also made the decision to leave the International School and fully integrate into the local system.

But first we had 6 weeks of Summer break. The first week of Summer holidays we spent in the South of France glamping. Was a wonderful relaxing (technology free) week at the beach.

We returned with a few days to unpack and repack and then the girls and I were off to NZ to catch up with family and friends and celebrate my sister Catherine's wedding and the birth of my sister Anna's first child. Was great to be home for both big events. But flying half way around the world alone with 3 little girls is no little trip.....

We all had a wonderful time and the weeks just flew past. I even managed a little sewing, that nearly broke me, a flower girl dress for Alannah to match the ones the girls used two years ago for my sister Fiona's wedding, turned out ok, if you don't look to close, but took a lot more sleepless nights than I planned.

Everyone!

Wow, my little cousin Chloe.

On our return to Switzerland, Alannah began school at the local primary school. Was a lovely first day, the whole school has a special assembly to welcome the first graders to the school. 5th graders are buddied up with a first grader and tell a story of their first week at school to make the 1st graders feel more at ease, bring them a special snack and a flower. Then there are songs and more celebration. For the first month or so of school the buddy walks the 1st grader to school so they can get accustomed to the route as it is no longer acceptable for Mummy or Daddy to walk you to school. As a first grader it is time to become more independent and mature in this part of the world. We are now 6 months into the school year and we all feel the decision to go local was a good one, Alannah has learnt the local language and settled in well. We all feel much more integrated into the local community. I just wish I could learn the language as quickly as Alannah has.

Xanthe began a second year of Spielgruppe increasing to three mornings a week, one indoors and two in the forest.

Philippa even started one morning of Spielgruppe in October.

Which means I have about 2hrs a week to myself. This time has been dedicated to fitness, we have lovely hills and green space around our village and I have taken up running.

As Autumn came and the weather cooled in Basel, we headed South to Italy for one last week of warmth. Italy was fantastic we glamped at lake Garda, visited Verona, Sirmone, Venice and a day at Gardaland which was the kids first theme park experience. We tried swimming but it was just a little to cold even in our wet suits.

Daily gelati was definitely the trip highlight for all.....

We had a few weekend visits to the alps with friends.

Enjoyed local Kurbis celebrations.

Winter came with lots of snow, which we still find a wonderful novelty. We have had lots of fun building snowcastles, and sledding on our local hill.

Christmas was lovely despite all of us being sick for all of December so we felt a little under prepared and a bit lacking on spirit.

We had a wonderful new years with our friends in the alps. The fireworks displays down the valley and champagne in the snow was well worth waiting up for. The best night would have had to be when we dragged the kids on sleds for an hour up the mountain to a little restaurant for fondue and then sledded home by moonlight. The kids had a lovely time learning to ski, even Philippa had her first go skiing. Will be another year or two before we attempt lessons but she enjoyed being able to give it a go like her big sisters.

So that was the rest of 2012.

Xanthe's 4th Birthday

noreply@blogger.com (sewmeafumberlant) — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 20:44:00 +0000

Sunday we celebrated Xanthe's 4th Birthday. My little girl is growing up so fast. I love that when I went to help her get dressed for her party she proceeded to tell me "I am 4 now mummy, I don't need your help any more". She then proceeded to dress herself and do her own hair (with no less that 4 clips), something I knew she was capable of but have failed to convince her do previously.

We started the day with presents in bed and french toast for breakfast.

Then our friends joined us for a simple lunch time BBQ party in the back yard. It was such a lovely day and such great company, we partied on till almost dinner time.

The kids made their own party hats.

Went on a Scavenger Hunt.

and played and played all day.

Xanthe was thoroughly spoilt and had a wonderful day, as did we all.

Picnic Quilt Top

noreply@blogger.com (sewmeafumberlant) — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 20:08:00 +0000

I have been working on this quilt top since March, when we had our first glimpse of spring weather, unfortunately things have not progressed on the weather front, but I finally finished the quilt top. I would have finished a couple of weeks ago but the loss of my machine also stripped me of my sewing mojo. A kind friend lent me her machine and while it felt much better to have a machine in the house I was not hugely motivated to sew. My machine is now back and so is the mojo, which is a good thing as I have a rather large to do list at the moment.

This quilt was inspired by a quilt of Rita's from red pepper quilts. I originally planned on making it random in colour layout like Rita's, but my husband saw it all laid out on the floor (ready to sew after hours of arranging) and said it was too crazy colourful. His exact words were "it looks like someone has already chucked up on it!". So I reorganised the blocks into a rainbow like arrangement, which I equally love, in an attempt to tone it down. Perhaps I will make random layout quilt once I accumulate more scraps.

We have a very old woollen blanket that has seen better days. I thought it would make a great batting for a picnic quilt so the quilt top is sized to fit that. As you can see this is another scraps quilt. I have really been enjoying working with scraps and lots of colour this year. I cut each strip a 1/4" extra long so I had room to trim up the blocks (tip from Rita at red pepper quilts), this really helped to have square blocks which made the final piecing really easy. With lots of careful pinning almost all of my corners are matched. Each strip was cut 6 3/4" x 2 1/2", to leave me with a 6 1/2" x 6 1/2" block once trimmed.

In hindsight their was probably to much work in the piecing for a picnic quilt. Especially one that is going to be quite well used (abused) by my 3 young girls. But I have come thus far, so hopefully in the near future (before summer is over) we will be picnicking on a finished quilt.

Yum Yum Balls

noreply@blogger.com (sewmeafumberlant) — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 11:01:00 +0000

Another rainy day here in Switzerland, so with Xanthe turning 4 on the weekend and needing a small special treat to share with her playgroup (Waldspielgruppe) friends later this week, we decided to make some yum yum balls. The name says it all these are super easy (no bake) and super yummy.

This recipe was passed on to me by a dear friend Abby and I am sure she won't mind me sharing. So this is how you can make your own yum yum balls.

YUM YUM BALLS

Ingredients:
1 packet Marie biscuits (or similar plain sweet biscuit)
3 Tbsp cocoa
3/4 cup desiccated coconut
1 tin sweetened condensed milk
approx 1/2 cup desiccated coconut for coating balls.

Directions:

Mixture with everything added, just starting to mix.

1. Crush the biscuits, I find in the food processor is the easiest but make sure to leave a few larger chunks for texture.

2. Tip the crushed biscuits into a mixing bowl and add cocoa, desiccated coconut and the sweetened condensed milk and mix well.

3. Form small balls of mixture (heaped teaspoon), by rolling it in your hands (yes this very messy), and then roll the balls in the rest of desiccated coconut.

4. Place in a sealed container in the fridge to store (at least a week if they last that long).

Makes around 50 (depending on how big or small you make your balls)

I am sure these would freeze well but I have never tried.

I hope you enjoy, we will be making some more next week to wrap up prettily with some fudge, as thank you gifts for all the various activity teachers. Our school year is very rapidly coming to an end.

Venice

noreply@blogger.com (sewmeafumberlant) — Sat, 09 Jun 2012 20:01:00 +0000

So we were super lucky to have 2 weekends in a row away. Even luckier to have Scott's parents mind the girls so we could have a child free weekend in Venice.

Venice was wonderful. I can now understand why it was so hard for Mum to give me advice on what to see or do. Venice in its entirety is the experience, it is so beautiful, historic and different to anywhere else, such a wonderful place to explore.

We spent all day every day walking, walking, walking, exploring all the nooks and crannies of Venice. We broke up the walking with boat trips and eating. Next to the magic of Venice, the food was my favourite part, lots of fresh seafood simply cooked and great coffee.

Long Weekend on a Barge

noreply@blogger.com (sewmeafumberlant) — Thu, 31 May 2012 10:41:00 +0000

This past long weekend we met up with the girls' grandparents in the quaint little town of Vandenesse-en-Auxois in France and for something a bit different stayed on a barge.

The barge was lovely it had just been refurbished and we were the first guests before it starts the season doing wine and food tours up and down the canal. Max the skipper was a great host, with lots of local knowledge and put on a great breakfast each morning.

We had planned a weekend in Dijon with the barge as our base, but the local area was so pretty we never got to Dijon. The barge was a wonderful accommodation and great entertainment for the kids.

We could walk to the village for ice cream and duck feeding.

We drove up the hill to Châteauneuf and the lovely surrounding village, too look at the views, including back at our barge. For lunch at a crepery and some princess play in the old Château.

Châteauneuf up on the hill

View from Châteauneuf

In the courtyard of Châteauneuf

We went swimming in Réservoir de Panthier which has a lovely sandy beach.

Sat on the deck of our barge and enjoyed the quiet and the beautiful country views.

Dinner on the Deck

Looking towards Châteauneuf on the hill, from our deck

Farm on the riverside

Finally before heading home, we visited the village of Saulieu and had a lovely lunch.

We all had a lovely weekend away in France, the girls especially loved seeing their Grandparents again.

Robyn and Tony have now joined us in Basel and will have a weekend at home with the girls while Scott and I have another long weekend away, this time in Venice.

Philippa's 2nd Birthday

noreply@blogger.com (sewmeafumberlant) — Tue, 22 May 2012 20:45:00 +0000

Happy Birthday my beautiful little girl.

Today was Philippa's 2nd Birthday but we celebrated on Sunday. At 2 you can still get away with this, although we did have another cake today as well.

We have a few birthday traditions, starting with presents on Mummy and Daddy's bed.

The made by mummy Birthday Dress. She also received her quilt, some books, and her very own Barbie Doll.

Then a special breakfast. Unfortunately for her sisters, Pippi's favourite breakfast is porridge, not a big hit as a special breakfast for her sisters..........

We always celebrate with a party. For this one Pippi's best friend Eleanor and her family joined us for a BBQ. Pippi's only requests for her Birthday were balloons and candles. Pleasing 2 year olds is so simple. So there were plenty of balloons hanging in the trees and of course candles on the cake.

We made her an ice cream cake with smarties and strawberries mixed through. Decorated with more smarties and strawberries. Served with a side of jelly.

That was Philippa's special day. We love you Pippi our family would not be the same without you.

xxoo

The day I have always dreaded

noreply@blogger.com (sewmeafumberlant) — Thu, 17 May 2012 13:51:00 +0000

My machine has broken down and I have been forced to take it to get fixed. Yes I have taken it for a serivce when it suits me, but my trusty little Janome has never broken down before. Technically it has not actually broken down, it just started sewing on its own or when I was sewing going at triple speed. Neither of which are overly safe behaviours and required lots and lots of unpicking, until I finally gave in and deemed it unusable.

This journal cover was the last thing I sewed with it before declaring defeat. So please don't look to closely, as the stitching is a bit interesting in places.

I got the idea from Rachel Hauser's blog stitched in color and used Jennifer Paganelli's covered journal tutorial. This was a birthday gift for a lovely lady I have meet here in Basel. I wanted to get her something special but was really strugging with ideas. Hopefully the journal will be well used and the cover well loved.

The grey is Kona cotton in coal and the prints are from a charm pack of Malka Dubrawsky's first line of fabric, a stitch in color.

I really enjoyed making this journal cover (despite crazy machine behaviours!) and even bought myself a diary that I hope to make a cover for when my machine is back in working order........

Cinnamon Buns

noreply@blogger.com (sewmeafumberlant) — Sat, 12 May 2012 16:08:00 +0000

What could be better on a miserable Saturday morning than fresh homemade cinnamon scrolls and a cup of coffee (or milk for the kids).

Since moving to Switzerland we have started the ritual of cooking our own special breakfast on the weekends, as the lovely Melbourne cafe does not exist here. Normally it is Daddy's pancakes, french toast, or waffles. A couple of years ago my sister Catherine made cinnamon scrolls for brunch and I thought they would make a nice change. It has taken me a long long time to get around to making these as they are essentially a soft sweet bread which requires hours of proving. While I loved the idea I was not so keen to get up at 4am so we could have cinnamon buns for breakfast! I was flicking through my Monday Morning Cooking Club cookbook and finally read to the end of the recipe where is said that the dough refrigerates or freezes well. What a fabulous idea! So last Saturday afternoon I set to work, it took a few minutes here and there over the course of the afternoon but other than all the waiting between steps they were very easy to make. I made two cake tins worth and had a few messy ends left over. The ends were tested for desert that evening, yummy! We had one tin last Sunday morning and Pippi kindly woke me at 5am this morning so we had the last tin this morning. I took them out of the fridge to come back to room temperature for a final rise (and went back to bed.)

Before cooking

and these are what we enjoyed for breakfast..........

As I mentioned before the recipe came from one of my favourite recipe books "Monday Morning Cooking Club". This much loved book was a gift from my sister in law and family. It has great recipes, savory and sweet. They are not of the super quick and easy variety, although some are, but sometimes it is nice to put in a bit off an effort and I must say every recipe I have made has been totally worth it. Couscous Roast Chicken has become a family favorite and the lamingtons are sooo good.

Sorry I can't share the recipe, as I don't think that is the right thing to do since I made it exactly to the recipe in the book, but I do highly recommend the recipe and the book.

New Dress for Philippa

noreply@blogger.com (sewmeafumberlant) — Thu, 10 May 2012 21:06:00 +0000

I finally finished Philippa's dress that I cut out in Elsie Marley's Spring Kids Clothes Week Challenge. Even better it was a lovely warm sunny day perfect for a photo shoot with the littlest member of our family.

"Look at Me"

This is another Seashore Sundress by Oliver + S. I love this pattern, it is a super cute dress so easy to sew and lends itself so nicely to using multiple fabrics. This time I have used Ta Dot in Berry, Ann Kelle's Hearts in Bright and Dot to Dot in Navy from the Children at Play range. I sewed size 18-24M for Philippa which is actually a little long right now, but it keeps it modest especially with a bulky nappy underneath. It was very satisfying to cut out a pattern and sew up a lovely dress (no measuring, fiddling, altering). Philippa is 2 in a couple of weeks, so this is her Birthday Dress and she is very happy with it!

I added a couple of heart appliques as she loves hearts and choose the fabric for the front panel. So as you can see there is one on the back. I used dot to dot in Aqua from Children at Play range of fabric.

I also appliqued a heart on the facing as a faux label, using dot to dot in Berry. To keep it colourful I used Sandi Henderson's Henna Garden in Yellow for the facing.

She enjoyed having photos taken after watching her sisters getting fussed over in the past. It was very cute!

Xanthe's new dress used to be Daddy's shirt

noreply@blogger.com (sewmeafumberlant) — Sat, 05 May 2012 19:29:00 +0000

So here it is, my take on the man's business shirt refashioned into a little girl's dress. I have a couple of Daddy's old business shirts in my stash so I let Xanthe choose her favourite. She chose a lovely grey and red stripe shirt. I looked through my stash to find a fabric that complemented to add a bit more colour. I settled on a honeycomb spot by Riley Blake from the Rainy Days and Mondays line. I love the finished dress especially the extra pop of red, Xanthe loves the pockets (perfect for putting little treasures in). Unfortunately my measuring was a bit off and the bodice is a little long (for right now, lucky kids grow!). So I think this will be a better fit next summer which is probably not a bad thing. Even though she loves the idea of wearing Daddy's shirt and I added the extra red trims and pockets, she still insists it is not pink enough for her!

I remixed Sandi Henderson's Gracie Jumper pattern. The neckline is pretty much the same although I slip stitched the top seam closed rather than using 1" bias as written in the pattern. Also I kept the shirts original button panel, so had to alter how the lining was sewn in. The pockets are of my own design. The ruffle at the bottom was pieced together from the extra shirt length and the sleeves. I lined it in Kona Solid in Ash from my stash. I replaced the cream colored shirt buttons with some black buttons from an old cardigan of mine. They are very sweet and oval, heart and triangular in shape.

Daddy has today kindly donated an all pink shirt to the sewing pile, so perhaps I will give this dress another go for Xanthe with a better fit for this summer.............

I just love this last shot. I don't think Xanthe did, she was a bit over the photo shoot by this stage.

Interlaken

noreply@blogger.com (sewmeafumberlant) — Wed, 02 May 2012 20:17:00 +0000

My husband has been working crazy long hours and even had to work some of Easter. This weekend past was not officially a long weekend but Tuesday was a public holiday and Scott finally had the chance to take some time off. After a cool April with constant rain the weather was forecast to be warm and fine, so very last minute I contacted a camping company and asked for a cabin anywhere within 3hrs drive of Basel. They has a spot free in Interlaken. Unfortunately it was only for the weekend, but 2 nights was better than none. Wow Interlaken is beautiful. Nestled between two lakes with the Bernese Alps all around.

View of the Jungfrau from Interlaken

Interlaken is the adventure capital of Switzerland, but with three young children, white water rafting, rock climbing, skydiving, parra-sailing and late season skiing were not high on our to do list. This is also a great base for walking, serious walking, again not overly great for young kids. We could have caught the train up the Jungfrau to the "roof of Europe", but a 4hr return trip did not overly appeal. We have girls who are not very excited about trains, or more snow and ice (we will wait till we have visitors to do this). Lake activities were not open yet for the Summer season. So we decided to visit Ballenberg, the Swiss Open-Air Museum, perfect, lots of walking between "villages", but with so much to look at the kids were kept interested and didn't realise they were doing so much walking.

Enjoying walking around Ballenberg

Historical Buildings (relocated) from all over Switzerland

Great views

Old time farmyards and fields

Vegetable gardens

Playground with carousel

Historical home that's lower levels were converted into an Enchanted Forest for the kids

Entering the Enchanted Forest

Exiting the Enchanted Forest through a hidden door in the kitchen

Rope factory

We enjoyed our day so much at Ballenberg that we got season membership and returned for a second morning to finish looking around. It is rather large with lots to see.

So that was our weekend in Interlaken. Lucky it is only a short drive from home as there is so much more to see and do.

KCWC days 4 to 7

noreply@blogger.com (sewmeafumberlant) — Tue, 01 May 2012 19:53:00 +0000

Unfortunately I don't have much to show for the last 4 days! I guess you could say we took Jessica's advice (from mesewcrazy) to "remember life is going on outside our windows" and make it count. Very spur of the moment we decided with a nice and potentially long weekend looming to see if we could get a cabin within 3 hrs drive of home for 4 nights. We got 2 nights in Interlaken, awesome! This required lots of packing and research of Interlaken on my part, so sewing got put on hold. I did manage to get dresses for Xanthe and Philippa cut out on days 4 and 7.

Over the course of the week I completed more than 7 hrs of planning, cutting and sewing but I did not manage 7 consecutive days. Elsie Marley's KCWC sew along has definitely been a good source of motivation since I signed up, in fact I think I got more sewing done in anticipation than the actual week. I will definitely be signing up for Autumn.

These are the dresses you should see in the near future. Firstly for or Xanthe, we have Daddy's old shirt that will hopefully become a dress that resembles the blue dress below. I have used Sandi Henderson's Gracie pattern as the base, particularly for the neckline. Sooo much procrastination went into this, I have 5 more shirts I can use, but I like to do things right first go. Finally I choose a style based on the neckline. I have kept the little super soft denim dress to try making an up sized version, it is 3 month size, which is unfortunate as I really like the dress, but find dresses very impractical on girls before they can walk. So it has only had a few wearings.

Secondly for Pippi I have cut up 4 different fabrics, Ann Kelle remix hearts in bright, Ta Dots in Berry, Sandi Henderson's Henna Garden in Yellow, and Children at Play dot to dot in Navy, to make my third Seashore Sun Dress from Oliver + S.

So no more finishes but hopefully some good beginnings. Stop by tomorrow to catch up on our weekend in Interlaken.