Where can she wear this outfit?

I finally cut into my lovely Andalucia fabric, making this outfit for my 2 yr old. It's a twirly top and pants - all with lots of frills. I haven't sewn much frilly stuff since last summer.

Here she is the next day, wearing it for the first time. I'm not happy with the size around her arms - would like it smaller.

This is her with her baby sister - my 1 yr old here is wearing clothes that I made for her sister last yr. I love this outfit. It's so nice to be able to use clothes another time around.

And I know that you can't really see the 2 yr old's outfit, and I generally keep this blog pretty much focussed on craft/clothes/etc, but I just had to put in this pic anyway - just because it's so cute. The 1 yr old is currently at the stage of just pulling herself up. She isn't in a rush to walk, but does stand a lot and still get's stuck - so she stands, and then gets upset because she can't work out how to get back down or what to do next. The 2 yr old is playing shop with her - no doubt handing her an ice cream.

So, with not particularly liking the fit around the arms, and with wanting something a bit warmer for spring anyway, I moved the buttons to make the arm holes a little bit smaller, and made this peasant top which can go underneath it.

Of course, the outfit wouldn't be complete without a hat. This is another from the Nicole M designs pattern.

So here is the whole lot assembled. I know that I overdo the pictures a bit, but I just couldn't decide which to put in. And I'll probably add another pic of this outfit when she finally gets a chance to wear it.

Which brings me to my dilemma of the day. Where can she wear it? Do I have to stop making frilly clothes just because we don't really go anywhere that she can wear them? Would they look silly if she just wore them to the grocery shop (we could pretend that we were going somewhere important afterwards!)? Could I dress her in this for school pick up? Or would it look too show-off-y? I love seeing her in this outfit (although of course, I haven't seen it all assembled yet!) but I've got a feeling that she wont get many chances to wear it unless I just don't worry about whether it is appropriate and put her in it. I do think the kids should wear whatever clothes they have (frilly or not!) when they're the right size, otherwise they just grow out of them.

It's so much more fun making frilly stuff for the two little ones - I'd love to make them a heap more. Will have to find places for them to be worn though.

If you have any thoughts on this, feel free to post a comment!

I didn't put in a pic of this peasant top the other day. Made it a couple of wks ago. It was in a pic that had the matching hat I think. I love peasant tops - as easy to make as a t-shirt, but so much nicer.

I did some more decorated, felted balls. The plain balls were made a couple of weeks ago (when I did the others) but have been waiting for the time and inspiration to be decorated. So here they are. The first is my least favourite of the three, although my 2 yr old says it's her favourite. It's some chickies. As usual, I've put in way too many pics, so you'll see each ball from a couple of different angles.

This is a rainbow one. The colours go from red to purple, and then back to red in the middle on the other side. I've decided that covering the whole ball is a good idea, both for the look (better then a white background) and because it is easier to then felt on in the washing machine, rather then needle felting it all on. I just needle felted it a very little bit to hold it into place before putting the ball into a stocking and into a hot wash.

And finally, a sun.

I couldn't resist this picture of all the balls together when I packed them into the basket to go on the kids' play shelf, although I think a bigger basket would have been better.

Here is my 1 yr old having fun with the balls this morning.

We made some kite stars together to decorate the window. It was a good project to do with my oldest daughter. They look really effective - completely not shown in this photo. I'll have to try a few different ways to take the photo. They are beautiful colours and the light shines through them.

This is something I haven't tried before - knitting something specifically to felt it (or is the proper term something else?). I'm a very slow knitter and I always have a few knitting projects on the go - kids' jumpers, knitted pants, etc. So I don't feel that I can spare any knitting time for "unimportant" things. But over the past couple of days I decided to give this a go. It uses big needles and I used two strands of wool. I found some Panda wool that was actually called feltable wool, so I decided to try that, although in the future I'll just dye up some of my stash of organic wool.

My aim is a set of stacking bowls. This is the first one - my tester. It's been hot washed and dried, then I dampened it and rubbed a bit and shaped it over the bottom of a jar and left it to dry. After a day and a half it is still very wet, and I'm wondering if it will felt MORE and shrink and firm up more (although actually, if it doesn't, it is fine as it is), so I've just put it into the machine a second time with the rest of the bowls that I knitted ALL TODAY! Look on ...

I have very sore hands now as I try to knit anything else, so that's it for me knitting for another day or two. I just knitted when I was chatting with the bubs, when they were eating (after I'd finished - better then eating more anyway!), etc. And I got four bowls done. I did another one to go with the first one, then decided I should have made the red one smaller so that I could do the whole rainbow without the last one being huge, so I did another red one and the two sizes up from that. I still have green, blue and purple to go.

Here are the freshly knitted bowls ready for felting.

This shows the two bowls that have been knitted the same size, with the red one already having been through the wash and dryer once. Just thought it was interesting to have a comparison photo.

And finally, the three bowls that will end up as part of a set - after felting.

Now they should actually have finished their time in the washing machine so I can go and see how they are, but I'm not going to show pics today. I have a heap still to do tonight. The babies are in bed and I want to sew a skirt for my 8 yr old. I am trying to get through the Wardrobe Challenge on PatternReview.com, but I haven't registered yet because I keep working on other projects. I was hoping to sew up a "wardrobe" for my 6 yr old and my 8 yr old (ie do two entries) by the end of November, but I'll see how I go. Even if I don't end up entering, end of November is a good deadline to have most of their summer basics done.

I have been asked for a tutorial for the poncho. I'll make another poncho in the next couple of weeks and will take photos as I go then - so it's be coming.

Tomorrow is "blog action day" so I will write then, although it may not have any craft in it (or I might post twice if I want to show off the felted bowls). Catch you then.