Sunflowers

I'm not too sure what has happened to summer here, we took these photos today in the relentless drizzle.
In early January Mr A planted a sunflower in a pot he had painted at his school holiday programme.  He has (almost single handedly) looked after it since and yesterday it finally came out in bloom.

It's not exactly huge, I'm not sure if that's the rather rubbish growing conditions we have had or the type of sunflower, but it is touchy.
Here's a shot to give some height (or lack thereof) perspective.

KCW (kind of) Part 6: Multi Pocket Shorts

Ok so it's not KCW anymore but I did get these started during kids clothes week.  I then got them almost finished on Waitangi day and finally sewed the hems today.
I have wanted to sew these shorts since I got the issue of Otto way back in 2008 (yes this is another Ottobre pattern), they are from the summer issue (03) and they come in pretty much all sizes from 98 up, plus there is a longer jeans version as well.
What I LOVE about the Ottobre patterns for boys is that they have all the finishing details that make the clothes look 'store bought' and not 'home made'.  I love the challenge of this and it also helps with my "argh my boy is wearing homemade clothes to school he'll get bullied" complex.  For the record Mr A goes to a fabulous school where I have no worries about bullying at all, but you know I'm a paranoid mother when it comes to these things.
So anyway what am I waffling about?  These:

What's not to love right?  They went together like a dream and have details to burn (I actually left off the belt loops and the extra fancy top stitching on the backs and they still have plenty of 'extras'.  I love all the pockets, because boys need pockets!  There are SIX pockets in these, all huge and I love every one of them.  The big front patch pockets are incorporated into the fly which is cool, the contrast of the front hip pockets makes them 'pop' and the pleat details on the back pockets add a little something extra as well.

These were meant to have a full zip fly but Mr A didn't want one so I just adapted and botched a half mock fly (who knows maybe I even did it right but I made it up as I went along) and he requested a snap instead of a button (no arguments here on that one).

Even with all those pattern pieces (12 of them, yes 12), these went together like a dream and the fit is great.  I usually cut a 104 with 116 length for DS but he didn't want them as long as the were in the book so I cut a 104 with 116 rise and 104 leg length (slightly confusing at time of tracing but it worked well).  I actually still chopped a couple of inches off the length to give shorts rather than 3/4 pants to please the boy.  Oh and the fabric?  Once again I'm pretty sure this was courtesy of my Mum's stash from some time ago and the blue is left overs from his jeans I made recently.

Excuse the terrible photos, it's been raining here today so the front door was the only dry space we could find and I was getting rained on.  Mr A is pleased though so I can't ask for much more than that.  Once again Otto Rocks!

Waitangi Day

Today was Waitangi Day here in NZ which meant a day off work/school and a chance to chill out.  It always seems a little weird when the kids have a day off during their first week back at school but I actually think it works well to ease them back into it.
We didn't try to do anything too patriotic today, although Miss M had a day of celebrations at daycare yesterday.  Instead we made the most of the extra day off doing these kinds of things.....
Mr A did a lot of this:

 Miss M did a bit of this (Sammy's Science House and Thinking Things):

 Miss M made these with Daddy then everyone had to try them on:

 I managed to sneak away and do quite a lot of this during the afternoon:

Also not caught on camera was some gardening and a trip to the supermarket (so you didn't miss anything there).

I hope everyone else in our part of the world had a lovely relaxing day too :-)

KCW Part 3: Guitar Tee

See I told you I would get back to part 3, you just need to be a little patient.  So what was all the hype about?  Well in all honesty it was about a pretty plain t-shirt.
Last year I was lucky enough to be offered a massive destash bag of knit fabrics for just the cost of postage.  Now there is massive, then there is MASSIVE and then there is what landed on my doorstep!  To give some sense of scale each of those outer plastic bags is about the size of a bin liner.

 Anywho amongst all the scrumminess that was inside was a smallish off cut of knit interlock with guitars on it.  Mr A saw it and immediately asked if I could make him a t-shirt, which may have been possible if he has been about 6 months old still.  It has been packed away in a box since so this was a perfect opportunity to finally get it out.

The pattern I used here is Ottobre 3/2013 #23 as it filled the request of a rib neckline and not being too slim fit.  I colour blocked the front by hacking up the front pattern piece and adding seam allowances, and I'm pleased with the result.  The pattern went together really quickly and I even dragged out the coverseamer to hem the sleeves and bottom and it worked first time - woohoo.  You may notice that it is hemmed in white, I can assure you that this is a design feature to tie in with the colour blocking and had nothing to do with the fact I was too scared to change the thread on the coverseamer.

And finally a few pics on the boy today (cleaned of chocolate from his after school care programme the other day and moments away from having paint on the sleeve).

I'm pleased with the fit and it still has room to grow.  It got the thumbs up from the boy so I can't ask for more than that.

Adding a link to the Gracious Threads Colour Block Link Party :-)  Go check it out!  Gracious Threads: Embellish is for BOYS! week 3 with Amy