Tee Shirt Magic!

Sometime the Simplest Things can be made to look FaBuOuls! Take a few simple Tee Shirts and use you imagination ....Abracadabra .... Hey Presto..... and all that magical jargon.... and you have a gorgeous hand made unique garment!

Now I cannot claim that the 2 tee shirt inspired garment below are all my idea, I do browse the net and look at magazines and books for inspiration! I will see something, and let in float around in the vast imaginative space that is my head until I figure out exactly how to do it myself - as you all know, I like to figure thing out on my own, sometimes I really should read the instructions but hey, where is the fun in that?

Sooooo..... Tee Shirt No 1:

 

Take a plain white Tee Shirt.....  

Turn it over, and cut out some wings, I used  pink felt for the bottom wings and a pretty vintage floral for the smaller one! Use your imagination to cut out the wings, any shape will do and make it unique. Place the wings onto the tee and pin  them in place with loads and loads of pins so that they don't move. Then check the placing and mark with chalk( it will wash out)

Use the zigzag setting on your machine and set it on the longest but smallest width stitch, I then unpinned the big wings and stitched the smaller ones on to the bigger ones, then re pin the large ones and sewed them onto the tee..... Abracadabra..... Hey Presto.....

Angel Wings for An Angel Child

Sooooo..... Tee Shirt No 2

You will need a tee shirt and about one and a half meters of fabric.....

Cut the Tee shirt so that it is about waist length for your little angel( or yourself - it would work perfectly for an adult) Can you see where I cut it - the pin marks the spot!

 

This is the only tricky part and only if you have never cut a full circle before.... fold the fabric in half, then in half again( sure hope that makes sense) then decide how long you want it and pin you tape measure to the top, start at the one end and move your tape measure along the fabric and keep cutting toward the tape measure.....getting that?

 

See what I mean? Then in the same manner cut out a smaller hole right at the top.

Unfold your fabric once -A half circle.......

Unfold again and you have a full circle - SO CLEVER!!!!

Keeping the right sides together, pin the top of the tee shirt into the skirt- look at the top of the picture - see what I mean? you might have to cut you top hole in the skirt a bit bigger but do it little at a time, although the beauty of the tee shirt fabric is that you can stretch it slightly... slightly. Sew the two pieces together!

 

I cut two long pieces of fabric out as I wanted to make a waist band type thing......(I LOVE bows on the back of little angels dresses)

Fold it over and sew it together, start at one long  end, turn the corner and sew straight across the width then turn and down the other side, don't turn the other corner or you won't be able to turn it out!

 

 

Cut the corners like I have done in the picture above, and turn out, Sorry to say this but iron it ( have I mentioned my total aversion to ironing - poor LSO) Then fold over the opening and hand stitch it closed!

I used the seams on the side of the tee as a guide to sew my two bands on, and did you notice I used a contrasting pattern....  I simply roll hemmed the bottom of the skirt, I find this much easier the trying to hem an impossible curve .....  Abracadabra .....  Hey Presto..... a sweet little dress in no time at all!

She Loves Being A Model!

Little Madame loves the dress, I think because it has a twirly. Honestly I get quiet giddy watching her twirl and twirl and twirl on our lawn, in the house, actually every where we go! I LOVE the Angel Wings!  Both Tee 's Cost me R 40.00( that is about $5 and 4 pounds) and the fabric I had lying around in my stash. I spent about an hour on both and really they are so easy to do... I just want to say that you could even do the Angel Wing Tee by hand, with a simple blanket stitch (just use fabric that does not fray) I cannot tell you how many people have stopped me to ask where I bought  these, and honestly I do feel a little... OK, LOTS of PRIDE when Little madame proudly announces "My mama made it".....xxx 

 

The Week In-Between...

 

The week in between Christmas and New Year is a funny week  or is it just me?... The presents are all unwrapped, the Turkey eaten the decorations are down, the excited build up to Christmas is gone and it seems like...... well.....a bit of a ANTICLIMAX really ...... A sort of a In-Between week!

 

Now unfortunately for me, I am not the kind of person that can sit around all day doing nothing, I really wish I could but I just cannot! I had read my wonderful new Christmas present, the New Nigella Lawson book Nigellisima(LSO makes me soooo HAPPY) from cover to cover and even managed to churn out our Christmas pudding from it! I wondered into the kitchen and picked up my favourite book GIFTS FROM THE KITCHEN and began to page through....   

 

 

My Favourite Book!

 

When my little fingers stopped dead on a recipe I had been trying to muster up the courage  to make for months...... Nougat - now I know its not everyone's cup of tea, but I just love it - it is soft, white and full of yummy scrummy Nuts and Cherry's! What more could a girl want? Why had I not tried it yet? I hear you ask ... well... it looks complicated and YES..... I can all hear you scream out the answer  in unison..... I only do SIMPLE!!! I had gathered all the ingredients over the last few months, all everyday things, except for rice paper..... I had scoured every baking shop,cooking shop and Chinese shop in our  little fishing village but not a piece was in sight( so that had been the excuse up to now) but a few days before Christmas, a small Indian Deli in our local mall had totally delighted me by having piles and piles of edible rice paper - So, no more excuses......

 

 

The Recipe

So on a Hot and Humid Boxing Day,  feeling very brave, I got stuck in. Nuts were roasted, ruby red Cherry's chopped(Not a good job for me, as I ate more Cherry's than I chopped) Dried apricots chopped, Eggs whisked and honey syrup made. Now one thing I must tell you, but I think you a;ready  know... I often try to find the quickest route to the end, but in this recipe, I followed instructions closely, the only thing I did not do was used the electric beat, which I should have (It was the one recommend tip but  HONESTLY ... I was just too lazy to get it out of the cupboard - learned my lesson!!) Luckily my mother was on hand when I started to yell and panic because I needed more hands!  

Nuts and Cherry's

I must admit that up to the point where I added the syrup to the egg white I was feeling like it was all just too much effort..... you know me ....  keep it EASY and SIMPLE! BUT then we added the two together and it was like a wonderful science experiment, while my mother added the syrup in a thin and steady stream, I manned the hand beater and before our eye the dreary looking egg white transformed into a thick,sticky ,molten goo, that was creamy and rich looking and the smell was Heavenly..... I think if my mother wasn't with me I might have sat down on our kitchen floor and devoured the entire bowl of yummyness!!  I kid you not!! The rest of the ingredients were added and VOILA and TA DAH we had Nougat!!!

Such Concentration!

Mom Stirring The Syrup

All Mixed

After the whole family tasting the nougat, it was decided by general consensus that I could sell it, it was that GOOD! There was not much Nougat left by six that evening, I managed to put a bar into the freezer for LSO as he  was away..... And I do have to admit at this point that the major culprit of eating it was.... little ole me.... well every time I walked into the kitchen is screamed to me...  EAT ME! EAT ME! And I did what any self respecting girl would do ....  ,I HAPPILY and WILLINGLY obliged!

SO YUMMMMMMYYY!!!

Delicious and Delightful Nougat

So the in -between- week has now sort of become a making pickle week for me... because  I didn't stop at Nougat, I made Brinjal/Eggplant Pickle, more Chunky Beetroot, Mango Pickle and a delightful little Sweet pickle I found on the Net, called Sweet Cherry Pickle - apparently it tastes like Cherry Pie.... will have to report back to you on that! (and give you all those recipes)And I Have Picture of all of the yummy Pickles but for some unknown reason my computer refuses to upload them! Oh Well......

Brinjal Awaiting Pickling

The rest of my week was taken up with Little Madame, she has become quiet the tent/fort builder and we have made a tent to go to sleep in every night! It is such fun as we both creep into a small space cuddle up and wait for Mr Sandman..... I probably love watching her go to sleep best of all! As little eyelids get heavy and finally shut, it reminds me of her baby days! I often watch her and wonder how did LSO and I created such a perfect little person...... so full of Love, Joy and Wonder. The innocence of childhood is such a blessing! xxx

Tent Built

Sleeping Angel!

'Twas The Night Before Christmas......

It's Christmas Eve...... A Wonderful and Magical time of the year!!

Our house is decorated from the front door to the kitchen. Carols are playing, presents are wrapped, cookies are baked, Turkey is stuffed and family is here!(Most importantly the ChAmPaGnE is chilling!!) EXCITEMENT is high at the Estate as Santa Claus is due tonight! Here is a little peek into our little Christmas......

 

 

Front Door Wreath

 

 Hall Way Tray of Pretty Decorations
 

 

Sweet Little Red Houses and Berry's
 

Santa's Arrival Gate

Our Lord's Birthday

Frosty The Snowmen!

Little Madame's Nativity Scene

Our Tree

Little Ginger Bread Men

The Gorgeous Fairy on The Top of The Tree

Angel's In The Dining Room

Santa In The Kitchen

Too Sweet

A Family Tradition - SOETKOEKIES

Paper Chains and Music Boxes

Christmas is a time of Love and Joy! It is my favourite time of the year! There is nothing like watching my Little Madame's face on Christmas morning, when she sees all the presents, realises that Santa has indeed been. The squeal's of happiness and joy as each present is unwrapped is music to my ears! I wish you all the most BLESSED, JOYFUL and PEACEFUL time of the year and would like to end this post with a line from my  favourite Christmas poem(I have loved this since I was a child and will read it to my Angel tonight!)........ "MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL,AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!" xxx   

Manic, Hectic Weeks.......

 

The last few weeks have been Exhaaauuusstting to say the least, And I cannot believe that over a month has gone by since my last post! It seems like yesterday that I sat down in front of the computer to tell you all about the beautiful sewing I have been doing(and much more has been done since then) Things just sort of got manic here on the estate! Well I am not sure if anyone has missed my ramblings but I sure have missed rambling.....   I thought I would quickly catch you  up on  some of the things that have made my life so ridiculously hectic over the last month... so here goes....

 

School concerts, Gymnastic prize givings and Ballet concerts took up nearly 3 weeks.

 

The school concert was absolutely amazing and all credit must go to the wonderful teachers at Little Madames school for getting all those aspiring little thespians to perform so well in the beautiful story of The Rainbow Fish...... There were little fish, mermaids, ninja turtles,  penguins, sharks and dolphins, and it was no mean feat to get all of these little sea creatures to sing, dance and act perfectly!  The show ended with a beautiful rendition of "You are the music in me" sung by the entire school  (All 3-6 year old)- there was not a dry eye in the audience. The show was outstanding, so much so that LSO and I snuck back the next night to watch it all again!

 

 

Sweet Little Fish

  

Dolphins and Penguins

 

 

Equally good was the Rhythmic Gymnastics Prize Giving, the entire club performed for us and we got to see our little angels all having fun and how well these exceptional girls had done at various competitions throughout the year. The mentoring and love that all these  little girls get from their coach, Eli is wonderful and they all love her with a passion!

 

 

The Gorgeous Girls from The Club

 

Now onto my favourite event! And  just looking at the pictures will tell you why! Little Madame and her ballet class did a SuPeR SwEeT version of Swan Lake complete with Classical Tutu's and the  epic music of Swan Lake. To say that Little Madame was GIDDY with excitement over the fact that she was getting to wear a classical tutu would be a serious understatement!!! It was all we heard about for  the 3 week run up to the concert! She looked GORGEOUS..... See for your self.....

 

 

A Very Proud Dad and His Little Swan

 

 

Oh So Sweet!!

 

While watching the concert I happened to glace down at the other little Ballerina's and my heart jumped for joy at the sheer beauty of the tutu's and eager little faces all watching and feeling like Real Life Ballerina's(this was said by Little Madame) and so very proud of themselves! Miss Gem Gem the Ballet teacher did herself proud with these elegant little swans!

 

 

How Cute Is This Picture?

A Little Pirate and His Mermaids

Many, Many, Many boring fix-up things were also done around the house, my favourite being a little re decorating in our bedroom! YAY!!!!! As you all know we moved into our house a few years back and to be perfectly honest with you we never really bothered with our room, it was starting to look really, well BORING!  So we bought a new bed(Or rather moved the new bed from the guest room into our room- I mean really, we had been sleeping on a 10 year old bed while all our guests got to sleep on the new bed in our guest room!) Two beautiful new bedside tables were a very happy purchase, as a matter of a fact my heart sings every time I  walk into my room and see them! A new duvet cover and curtains were purchased and a few bits and bobs moved around and HEY PRESTO! a whole new look bedroom!  It is calm and dreamy and I simply LOVE, LOVE, LUUURVVEE it!  



A Little Reading Nook

My Favourite Place - Bed!

My New Bedside Tables!

So Happy With My New Look Room!

My Beautiful Roses started to bloom again and so I just had to include this gorgeous collage  of one that I picked and put into a vase in our hall!

 

A Rose By Any Other Name.....

 

With the school term's end rapidly approaching, Christmas gift had to be made or bought. There are just so many people to buy for, all the coaches, dance teachers, swimming teacher and wonderful  school teachers  that have been so loving and nurturing to my one and only Little Madame.. buying 10 presents does tend to get dear, even though I would sincerely like to purchase the moon and stars for all these people, we decided that to once again make yummy biscuits for them,  was the best option, so out came my trusty Nigella books and "Totally Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies" were made. I am so not going to bore you with the recipe for these now, but promise faithfully to post the recipe soon! Suffice to say they are totally, totally YUM!

 

 

The Making And Bottling

 White Chocolate Chips - YUMMY!

Crochet Snowflakes and Ribbon

So finally, I seem to have caught you up........ Whew! I am so sorry that this is such a long and possibly boring post with no wonderful recipes or Ta Dah moments!

 

Oh and One last thing.... all my present buying was done and dusted( and wrapped) by the 30th of November, ready to be shipped of to our various families all over the world! I am a total ROCK STAR in that department, even if I did really neglect all my lovely peeps out there - PLEASE forgive me....... xxx

Presents Waiting to be wrapped!

PS:: Loads of new post coming soon........ WATCH THIS SPACE!