See Sam Sew: December 2011

Merry Christmas and what will New Year bring?

Christmas has already flown by and the count down to New Year is on. What will the new year bring? what does 2012 have instore? Wouldn't it be wonderful to know before hand?

I have had a month off from blogging and so you are all getting caught up tonight. I hope that is ok. This is post number 3 this evening.

My parents are still here and I have loved having them here the last 3 weeks or so and last night my little sister who is now nearly 20 flew into Sydney too. She is here for nearly 3 weeks and we are all hoping, praying and wishing for some better weather. Bring on the sun. More fun is to be had and just being together and bonding together.

I hope that Father Christmas was good to you and the New Year is fantastic.

Teacher Present

One piece of sewing that I did manage to do before Christmas was a present for Olivia's school teacher Mrs. Weaver.

On Pinterest I saw a pin for free bag patterns so I had a look and decided that they would not be too tricky and that indeed I would be able to manage one. You can find the pattern here and the pin here on my To Make board.

Like the original pattern I decided that a chambray type piece of cotton would be great and then I saw some wonderful striped cotton drill weight fabric at Ikea which I really loved. What do you think?

I would alter this pattern some what if I were to make it again, I would lengthen the straps and thin out the handles a little too. However, it is a really easy, quick pattern to make and did make a wonderful teachers present with a little chocolate inside too.

Olivia loved giving it to a wonderful teacher whom she has had in both Kindergarten and Year 2. We hope you like it Mrs. Weaver.

P.S You can find me linking here at the wonderful Sew Much Ado.

Christmas Concerts and Presentation Days

The last week or so of school was really busy for us.

Oh I think I should preface the remainder of this post with this, I am going to boast about my children and how incredible I think they are, so be warned ok :).

With that warning firmly behind us that last week or so has been filled with school and pre-school Christmas Concerts, Choir recitals, Jazz end of year shows, and Olivia's baptism. With all of this happening my usual preparations for Christmas have been seriously disrupted and basically I have done none, I finally managed to get my Christmas Cards sent out and the presents that have to go to the UK but that is it. Final Christmas shopping was done in the 3-4 days before Christmas and I have really not liked it at all. I promise to be better next year.

Anyway, here are some pictures of the last few weeks to catch up and let me tell you I feel just a little proud of my beautiful girls, there were many times that just a little tear or two was wiped from my eyes. There has been some wonderful fun times and the build up to Christmas has been lovely.