Bami's Blog

Back To School...

noreply@blogger.com (Bami) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 01:46:00 +0000

In February I enrolled in the late round, for Bachelor of Education, Primary - and four days later I received this reply:

I had not expected to get in and the course started in 10 days time so I was a bit shocked and flustered, but very happy (if not a little scared!).

Luckily, organising care for the three boys fell into place easier than I had imagined it would, and before I knew it I was a Uni Student!!

Semester 1 has flown by and I have really enjoyed uni so far, learnt a lot and met a lot of great people. I completed two units (part time) comfortably and have chosen to study three units in semester 2.

Here are my results from semester one, which I'm extremely happy about!

In Semester 2, which begins in one week, I am studying Maths, PDHPE and Human Society & Its Environment.

Sportacus Costume

noreply@blogger.com (Bami) — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 23:13:00 +0000

I didn't think I'd finish in time but here is the Sportacus costume for my 3 year old nephew, as modelled by my (slightly bigger) 3 year old.

A little different to the original Sportacus, but with my limited sewing ability, this was the best I could manage.

Now I just have to make one for my own 3 and 5 year olds... they might end up being 'New Years' presents at this rate though...

Sewing Xmas Gifts

noreply@blogger.com (Bami) — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 05:05:00 +0000

Well I've just realised there's only a week until Christmas so I better get a move on with making the Christmas Gifts. Not an easy task with three boys, one of them a clingy 6mth old bub!

Anyway, here is one of the Apron & Oven Mit sets - this one is on it's way to my Grandma, in Adelaide.

I still have two more oven mitts to make at this stage!

And three Sportacus outfits - here are the first finished pants. These ones are for my 3yr old nephew. Slightly different from the original Sportacus costume, but my own 3 & 5yr olds knew instantly what they were meant to be, so that's a win in my books. I am yet to get onto making their costumes!

So, it seems I will be busy with sewing over this weekend!

Meanwhile, in chicken land, I have had 5 more lovely chickies come to live with me. They are all Australorp x New Hampshire and I'm thoroughly impressed with them and their lovely nature!

The Chickens Have Arrived!

noreply@blogger.com (Bami) — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 21:14:00 +0000

I've been wanting to get chickens for quite a while now.

Over the weekend my brother-in-law and hubby generously built me (and my family!) a gorgeous big chicken house!

Here is a photo of them finishing up:

and inside:

So yesterday we went into town and got these four chickens. I'm pretty sure the two brown are Isa Brown's and the two black are the Australorp Hybrid x's.

My 5 yr old son owns the two brown and my 3yr old son owns the two black. The brown ones have been named 'Crusty' and 'Chocolate' (!?!) and Master 5 swears he can tell them apart...

The black one's have not any names just yet. Who know's what they will end up being called!

All going well I will pick up two black frizzle bantam pullets on Thursday which will be my little chickens. They are not great layers like the other four (which are bred for laying!) but they are quite motherly I have read. So when I would like to increase the gang a little and they are broody, I can slip some fertilised eggs under one or both of them and they will take care of them. Well, that's the idea. We'll see how it all goes!

Movember

noreply@blogger.com (Bami) — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 19:29:00 +0000

Well, the month of 'Movember' is nearing an end!

Four weeks ago, when my husband came to me and told me he was taking part, I was filled with dread. Tim... with a Mo!? Oh dear.

However, maybe because it grows so slowly, or maybe because he decided to grow a mean bikie looking mo (as opposed to a french waiter style mo!?!), it wasn't so bad.

The scary thing now is, he is starting to look very comfortable in his mo, don't you think:

Mumma Bird

noreply@blogger.com (Bami) — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 08:44:00 +0000

A follow up to the Baby Bird entry!

My neighbour brought the baby bird back over, in a little hanging basket, to try and secure in the tree. When we got to the tree we realised the branch that held the nest had a big crack at the trunk and was about to snap off. So we pulled the whole branch gently down and in the nest was another bird and an egg. The mumma bird was there too of course.

My neighbour put the baby bird back in the nest and then put the whole nest in the hanging basket, it fitted snuggly there. We looked at the tree to find another branch to put the nest, but realised a huge crack that looked like the whole tree could come down if the wind kept up. So she put the nest in a nearby tree, and secured it tightly there. She did a great job, because we got a lot of wind and the nest stayed secure and upright, the baby birds safely tucked in there.

We watched from a distance to see if the Mumma Bird would find her relocated nest. As we watched, a huge gust came through and with a loud snap, down came the whole tree - Mumma Bird and all.

It was an anxious wait for about an hour or more, as the Mumma Bird seemed to go to every tree except the one where the nest now was!

But she finally found it! I am glad to report that the two babies were fine and reunited with their very devoted mum this afternoon. The wind has also since died down a bit!

Here is the mum, swooping the fallen tree, looking for her nest.

Baby Bird

noreply@blogger.com (Bami) — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 03:19:00 +0000

Today is extremely windy!

Tim and I were up on the hill at the front of the property, weeding, when we found it. A tiny baby bird. No feathers, eyes closed, peeping softly. It was sitting in the blazing sun, just under one of trees that was getting bustled about in the wind.

I ran and grabbed a flat cloth nappy and scooped it up gently. We brought it back to the house and rang WIRES. While we were on hold, we gave it a little water through an eye dropper and it seemed to love it.

We got through to WIRES and after ringing the local number we were given, they said they would pass on the details to a WIRES member that lived in our suburb.

We put the bird in a box in a dark, quiet room.

Next thing I know, our neighbour is hopping the fence with a big grin on her face! I thought she was with WIRES but not being sure, had rung the number on the website.

The best thing to do, we were told, was to put the bird back into the nest. We found the nest but it was quite high and hard to get to. Also the wind was bustling the tree all about.

After trying to figure it out for a while, my neighbour decided the best thing to do would be to take it back to her place and care for it, at least until the wind died down and until the storm that is supposedly coming tonight, passes.

Not sure if baby bird will survive or not, but I feel comforted knowing it is in capable hands.

Here is a photo, sorry about the quality, I didn't want to use the flash.

Chicken Sitting

noreply@blogger.com (Bami) — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 05:15:00 +0000

For the past 10 days we have been keeping an eye on a friends chickens, at their property. Going and letting them out for a run, collecting the eggs, then coming back later and giving them some scraps and seed and locking them up for the night.

They all have such characters and are pretty well behaved except for when you are trying to herd them back into their house when they have other ideas!

The kids just adore them and have given them names too.

Here is 'Big Boss' the rooster:

And this one they have called Eve:

So here is Wall.E... can't have an Eve without a Wall.E... apparently!

I know there's two.. there's actually 3 of those brown ones.. I think they're all called Wall.E!

This black one is Henny Penny:

And this one is named Foreign Contaminant?!

I can't wait to get our chooks! I am hoping to get four, one for each of the boys and one for me too! I am still looking about at chicken house designs, but here is one I have come across that I like the look of:

Pretty cool, hey!

Soft Jingley Blocks

noreply@blogger.com (Bami) — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 02:34:00 +0000

These Jingley Blocks are easy to make.

You will need 6 squares of fabric 12cm x 12cm. Try to use different colours and textures to make it interesting for bub, but that complement each other.

Because babies love tags, I have sewn in ribbon on some of the edges.

Sew up the cube inside out, leaving one side open to turn the cube out the right way, hiding the stitching inside.

Stuff with toy stuffing or ripped up wadding and hide three jingley bells inside so block will ring when shaken or pushed around.

On the final edge, fold each side in on itself a little and sew up with clear cotton by hand.

Ta Da!

Oops I forgot

noreply@blogger.com (Bami) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 01:50:00 +0000

Oops I forgot I had a blog!

I've been slightly busy - Samuel made his appearance on 30th May, 2008 at 8.44pm:

He is now nearly 3mths old!

Kombi Shirt Design a Success!

noreply@blogger.com (Bami) — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 23:29:00 +0000

I am really excited because I just discovered that the Kombi Ute shirt design is on the 'Featured' page of RedBubble! Woohoo.

Peas for Breakfast

noreply@blogger.com (Bami) — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 00:32:00 +0000

My sister and I were discussing phrases we used to get from our parents when growing up.

This t-shirt design was inspired by all the nights we were told if we didn't eat our dinner we would be eating it cold, for breakfast!!

Click on the RedBubble images on the right to see more of my shirt designs. I'm slowly getting better at drawing in PSP, but would like to get my hands on a computer program made specifically for drawing etc.

Butterfly Dress

noreply@blogger.com (Bami) — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 06:06:00 +0000

Dave's friend has been coming around a lot during the holidays and I thought she'd make the perfect model for some girls clothes!

I had a round tablecloth with these gorgeous butterflies all over it, which I was going to make a circular skirt out of but then remembered I never wear skirts! So I made a dress for little miss, using that and some of the white t-shirt material I had scored previously from the op shop.

There are two layers of skirt section which I found challenging to put together and probably did sew it in the wrong order but it all turned out in the end!

It actually looks better in real life than in the photos - for once! A size too big perhaps, but at least she can grow into it.

Star Shirt

noreply@blogger.com (Bami) — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 03:29:00 +0000

My first attempt at making a standard t-shirt - as you can probably tell!!

I made this shirt to go with my nephew's pants.

I discovered a way to make the hemmed edges look better using a different stitch, but the neck area I am still to figure out properly!

Dressing Gown to Pants Reconstruction

noreply@blogger.com (Bami) — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 02:29:00 +0000

I picked up this dressing gown years ago from an op shop because I just loved the fabric, I thought it would make a good pair of pants! It's towelling with green, blue and white striping.

I finally got around to making the pants for my 2yr old nephew today! I might attempt a pair of shorts for Dave later out of the sleeves.

Flower Photography

noreply@blogger.com (Bami) — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 02:22:00 +0000

My neighbour has been trying to grow lillies in his little pond for a while now and finally he had success! It was a gorgeous shade of pink (although it was supposed to be blue!) so I had to get a photo for him.

I also got this great frangapani photo from his garden:

Wiggle Pants for Noah

noreply@blogger.com (Bami) — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 01:42:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago I went along to Spotlights 20% off sale and Noah spotted this Wiggles fabric already in the clearance section. With the 20% off aswell it came to about $3.80 /mtr! Great spotting Noah!

Anyway, I finally made the time to make his pants. I'm happy with how they turned out.

(they look a bit lobsided because of the angle I took the photo on, sorry!)

I took my time and even though I still haven't braved the overlocker,
I used straight and zig zag stitches on the seams.

Action shot

(it's hot here, so Noah wanted them off again straight away as you can see!)

Pencil holder & Notebook

noreply@blogger.com (Bami) — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 07:28:00 +0000

I've been trying to do crafts with Dave using recycled items. I wanted to make something out of a can and could only think of the good old pencil holder!

Dave decided to give it to his grandma for her birthday so we made a matching notebook too.

Both items were padded with wadding, then covered in a pretty floral fabric from one of our op shop trips. Silver ribbon, beads and again, a gorgeous spotlight button, came in handy for decoration.

Maternity Shirt

noreply@blogger.com (Bami) — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 03:09:00 +0000

I finally made time to finish off this maternity shirt. It's a copy of a light blue shirt that I loved but it got stained. So I pulled it apart and used it as a pattern for this fabric I picked up at my local Op Shop for only $3.

Here is the front view:

And the back view:

I'm loving these huge buttons spotlight has in store at the moment!

Action shot.

Jungle Nappy

noreply@blogger.com (Bami) — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 00:50:00 +0000

Another nappy I'd forgotten I had made until I went to put it on Noah this morning.

This one is made out of navy flannelette inner, terry padding insert, PUL jungle patterned outer (so this one's a 'proper' all in one).

About 6mths old now.

Dave's Sheep Costume

noreply@blogger.com (Bami) — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 20:23:00 +0000

Dave had his preschool play on Monday afternoon (17th Dec).

I got a note home saying he could be a sheep, cow or donkey. Well he wanted to be a sheep.
So armed with 1.5m of white fleecy fabric, a day and a sewing machine - I got to work.

Having never made a sheep costume I wondered how exactly to go about it! First I grabbed a pair of his tracksuit pants and used that to trace a pattern onto tracing paper. The pants are pretty simple, elastic waist.

Next was the top - I have never made a long sleeve top before. I used one of Dave's singlet tops to draw the pattern for the body and then added some sleeves. I made the front of the body wider than the back as I was going to cut it through and add buttons, but in the end I just made it button up at the top.

Next was a head piece of some sort. I couldn't remember what sheeps heads looked like so I googled some pictures then somehow whipped up a hood type of hat complete with ears.

So, here is a picture.

Woops!

noreply@blogger.com (Bami) — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 22:33:00 +0000

Woops! I forgot I even had a blogspot. Silly me.

Well now that I've remembered, I am happy to announce that I am 4 months pregnant (tomorrow). Pretty exciting. I've been really sick not only with morning sickness but 2 lots of gastro too. Hopefully that's all behind me now though.

Here are a couple of photos from my NT Scan at 13 weeks, 3 days.

Another Nappy

noreply@blogger.com (Bami) — Sun, 20 May 2007 08:58:00 +0000

This afternoon I got around to making another fitted nappy.
This time I used an old flanalette pillowcase for one layer, an old terry cloth nappy for the middle layer and also for the 4 layers for the insert, and my husbands woolen jumper that had a hole in it as the last layer. I am going to wait until I get some white velcro, plus I didn't really have enough black left anyway.

Nappy

noreply@blogger.com (Bami) — Sat, 19 May 2007 11:40:00 +0000

After deciding to switch back to cloth nappies (for my boys, not me!) I stopped buying disposables and have now run out. But my lot of fitted nappies I ordered have not yet arrived.
Dilemma!
So tonight I have sewn one lovely nappy using 2 flat terry toweling nappies, and the starry fabric is from an old dressing gown! I only had a tiny a little bit of velcro, and it was black (white would have suited better I know).

I am very happy with how it has turned out for a first try!

<---- Front View

<---- Inner
(I have also sewn in 4 layers of toweling for extra absorption)

<---- Back View

I would put a photo of my son wearing it but I took so long, he fell asleep! Perhaps tomorrow...

Keroppi Frog

noreply@blogger.com (Bami) — Mon, 14 May 2007 23:08:00 +0000

My sister-in-law loves frogs, so, inspired by Keroppi, I sewed her this:

I just printed out a large picture of Keroppi (found on the net) and cut up each part to use it as a pattern. It was all hand sewn and took ages. It's stuffed with cotton wool and wadding and would double nicely as a small cushion.