The Smith Crew

Ezra’s New Blanket

melissa — Fri, 09 May 2008 02:15:43 +0000

I bought some fabric the other day to make Ezra a tag blanket - it’s so cute!! And he seems to be pretty impressed with it

Folded up (reverse has little cars on it - can’t really see them in the photo tho)

Loungeroom Makeover!

melissa — Mon, 05 May 2008 23:01:03 +0000

Jer had another trip away this weekend, so time for another project! (and yes I am slightly insane, I really shouldn’t have set such a huge goal for such a short time period, and over a weekend too - craziness! ….) Crazy Clarks had some bookshelves on sale for $29.95 instead of $59.95 that matched one we already had so I thought I’d try and get some more of them and find some funky fabric to cover the inside of the backboards with.

We went to Ikea on Saturday (Brianna and Ellia enjoy the playcentre there, only there was a big wait because it was full so we had a few dramas trying to sort that one out!) I found some fabric and bought 1.6m of 150cm wide figuring I just needed 1 drop of the fabric to cover each backboard…

Then onto the book cases…. Greenslopes had one in stock (we were driving past on the way back from ikea) then I decided to try Brookside as it was on the way home too (I was hoping to get two of them for that price). Brookside had “3″ in stock, only once she bought it out i realised it wasn’t the same thing (for starters the original price was $79 not $59) … I figured the one I already had would match the one already at home so decided I’d get it anyway.

Roll around monday morning and I open the box from Greenslopes… it’s broken! So we pack it back up, pack all the kids up and head back to brookside to swap it. Now we have two matching ones! (pity it required that nonsense)

Dad came around to help me put them together (well actually he came to put up a mirror in the bathroom but was kind enough to help with the book cases as well).

The book case I was expecting to buy had a single back board… only these ones had a piece that slid in between each shelf and the one above it… which meant I didn’t have enough fabric! I didn’t have enough to do each one and have enough hangover to go around the top and bottom a bit for the sliding in. So in consultation with dad we decided to leave the bottom ones uncovered.

Anyway… long story… this is what we ended up with - i really like them!!!

Now all that’s left is a trip back to ikea to buy more fabric for cushion covers… oh, and to fill the book cases!!!!

Granny Trolley!

melissa — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 02:38:59 +0000

I’ve been wanting to get a trolley for a while for when we go out - rather than having to drag multiple bags around… finally did it this week! (of course I choose to go looking when there aren’t any in stock anywhere …. even tho for the last few years I feel like I’ve seen them everywhere - and funky ones too!!!).

So I got the $15 bargain from Woolies! Plain black, tragically boring! After some inspiration from a fellow baby-wearing addict Mel (http://pimpmycart.blogspot.com) I decided to get sewing!

Stupidly, I forgot to take before pics… just imagine ‘booooring!’ … but here is the ‘after’.

Closeup of pocket on flap. Originally the flap had rounded corners, I chopped 4cm off the bottom to square it off and re-did the binding.

I added a loop of elastic to the flap and a button on the back to hook it over for when I need it to stay open (It was a pain trying to get things in and out of it at times yesterday with the flap in the way)

I also added a knitting needle (it was skinny, the right length, strong but light and not being used ;)) into the front seam to help it have a bit more shape and stay open. I just unpicked an inch or so of the front seam and pushed it in then sewed a bit around the edges to keep it in place

Yay for granny trolleys!!! I love it!!!!

Now to make myself a wallet to match…..

Brianna’s Sewing

melissa — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 01:57:58 +0000

Brianna made a bag for one of her friends today … First time at the sewing machine! (Mummy helped guide a little and did the pedal, but she did all the rest.) She took the photos too.

More Recent Sewing

melissa — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 08:03:47 +0000

I made this mat today for Ezra. We have been putting him on the floor on various quilts we have around the house, but I wanted something a bit more ‘purpose-built’ so this is what we have now:

I stitched around most of the big circles on the fabric - and to be honest the stitching is horrendous… I used the ‘freehand quilting’ option on my machine, and figured it’s one of those things that takes a bit of practice (also don’t actually have the right foot attached, but hey, it was fun!) It has a waterproof backing, which is why I didn’t stitch through all layers just the wadding and top layer (the PUL on the back wouldn’t be quite so effective with holes all through it! ;))

I made this mei-tai for a friend a few weeks back. I also made another one yesterday for a swap I was a part of, but can’t post pictures of it until the person I sent it to receives it

Modelled on my duct tape dummy with a doll

Bedroom Makeover

melissa — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 13:10:58 +0000

For those who don’t know, Jeremy spent the last week in Thailand with one of our Pastors from church who is living over there now. Whenever he is away for a few days or more I try and have some sort of project to work on… this time I decided our bedroom would get a makeover! I didn’t realise just what a process that would be!!!! I spent every spare minute trawling the internet and walking around shopping centres looking for the perfect quilt cover so that I could base the room around that… what a disaster! Everything was either waaay too expensive, waaay too ugly, totally the wrong colour, or too girly… I had tossed up the idea of making one myself, but struggled at the thought of trying to find fabric, work out how much it would all cost and find the time to put it together. Finally on Tuesday (He left last Thursday and arrived back late this Thursday pm) I decided I would just buy a new set of sheets, a new quilt/doona (I accidentally washed our wool one a few years ago and shrunk it…. so we’ve been without one for a while - oops!) and dye an old quilt cover that I had hung in the garage to make a curtain when we had the birth pool in there last year. Then on Wednesday after visiting with a friend in the morning I stopped in at a local fabric shop and found the bargain of the week! A lovely mocha brown fabric with a pale stripe through it for……. $1/m!!!!!!!!!! so I bought all of it (12.6m left on the roll). I also found a shiny teal fabric for $2/m and got 2.5m of it. I still had about 1m of the fabric I had used to make new curtains last year sitting in the cupboard.

So Wednesday night I started cutting…. and Thursday morning I finished putting it together. During the day Thursday Patricia helped me move our furniture around, and I ran around trying desperately to find all the little bits and pieces I wanted to complete the room (while Patricia stayed home with the -slightly crazy- children - Thanks Trish!!!!!). Turns out Ellia had some kind of bug, was crying about a headache all day, and finally threw up around 4pm then was fine…. then Malachi threw up everywhere around 6 - fun stuff!!

I finished the cushions *just* before dinner, sewing on the buttons while sitting outside chatting with the kids and our next-door neighbour, put the kids in bed and made a new hammock for Ezra, sewing the last seam about 5 minutes before Mary arrived to stay with the kids while I went to get jer….

It was all worth it!!!!!

The final result: (The photo’s not great as I took it on my new phone and I haven’t really set it up properly yet)

Total cost:
Quilt $75
Sheets $40
Lamps $22 (including bulbs)
Fabric for cover, hammock and cushions $15
Buttons for cushions $20 (they were worth it!!!)
Cushion inserts $12

Total: $184 - I saw quilt covers for that much while I was looking around!!!!!!

Edited to add: Jeremy LOVED it!!!

March Highlights

melissa — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 13:31:40 +0000

March was an incredibly busy month at our place (I realise some may think that it’s always busy here… but the last month has been even more so!). As well as all the ‘normal’ things we do from week to week, in March
* Brianna turned 5 (I don’t feel old enough to have a 5 year old!)
* and started playing hockey,
* we had our church missions conference,
* took two day trips to the sunshine coast to visit friends,
* Ellia broke her leg and was in a cast for a week (after two late night visits to the childrens emergency department with Daddy) then a brace for another three weeks,
* Heidi (a friend of mine) and I started a new program at our church for littlies (2-4 year olds) on wednesday nights,
* Daddy went to Kingaroy for two days,
* the rest of us went to see the QLD orchestra play Peter and the Wolf (Mrs John came too)
* Brianna and Malachi spent two days at Granny’s house,
* we had a busy easter with a trip to the redcliffe festival of sails and to rocks riverside park for a bbq with friends,
* did lots of sewing as we prepared for Adrian and Julia’s wedding (also in march, 4 of us were in the bridal party - Malachi wore his first suit!),
* Daddy turned 28 and started playing basketball again and
* Ezra started rolling over!

Now for the photos

The Smith Crew and the Caitens Clan @ the Sunshine Coast unit the Caitens were staying in.

We all went and played putt putt together. It was slightly crazy, but enjoyed by most!

The two little men particularly enjoyed the helicopter inside…

and the motorbikes!

Miss Grumpy-pants with her leg in a cast (she wasn’t actually grumpy, she just didn’t particularly want her photo taken)

On a ride at the redcliffe festival of sails

Enjoying sno-cones

With the Caitens and McClures @ Rocks Riverside

The first hockey game!

Uncle Adrian and Mr Malachi in his suit (it’s serious business!)

Ezra pulling faces earlier in the month… he’ll be 5 months old on Thursday… time has disappeared!!

More shoes…

melissa — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 06:31:13 +0000

I have two friends who have had little girls lately and I’ve been meaning to make something for them… finally got around to it today! I still have to finish the second skirt, but both sets of shoes are done (the shoes are reversible - denim one side, spots the other) Sewing for little girls is so much fun!!!

Flowergirl Dress

melissa — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 04:00:32 +0000

This is the “real” dress that was made for Brianna for a wedding last year. I posted about the trial dresses I made for the girls here and here. She was a big hit on the day She and Ellia are going to be flowergirls for my brother’s wedding at the end of March - but we were able to find dresses last year for them so I don’t have to sew them! (Just need to get started on my bridesmaid dress and finish one for one of the other girls!)

New Shoes

melissa — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 00:08:22 +0000

I made some shoes for Ezra last night (Actually I made two pairs but the first pair were far too small!) using the tutorials here and here.

Please excuse the blurry photo.

So Cute!!!!!!