'tis the season.... well, almost.

Just sharing a couple of little dresses I've made for my girls for Christmas.  I cheated and used a couple of little t-shirts I picked up at Target for $4 each.  I cut the bottoms off them and then attached a gathered skirt and a contrasting waistband with ties.  The fabric is some Riley Blake Quite Contrary that I've had lying around for ages. I loved the reds, pinks and greens and figured that even after Christmas was over they might wear them again.  I also embellished the bodice with a little yo-yo made out of some of the t-shirt material.

Oh, and I couldn't resist making some sweet matching hair clips!

Katherine Does Colour Block

I went shopping the other day to buy some Summer clothes for myself.  One thing that I saw a lot of in the shops was colour blocking.  I love the look of it but really don't know if I could pull it off.... however I was sure I knew a certain mini fashionista who could.

I had a couple of fat quarter packs in various solid colours that I'd picked up at Spotlight a white ago.  The girls had appropriated them to use as sheets in their dolly's cot, and I was happy to let this arrangement continue until I found a use for them!  Sadly, Dolly no longer has any sheets (well, she has a yellow one somewhere, as nobody was giving up its whereabouts), but Katherine does have two cute little colour block maxi-dresses for her Summer wardrobe.

My favourite is the pink and orange.

I swear the hem is even, she is just standing awkwardly (honest)!

Back view.

I made a crossover front for this one, just for something different.

Skipping!

Side view.  I put a little split in the back of the skirt as it wasn't as full as I'd like.  There's still plenty of room for her to move in it though.

She picked these "flowers" for me while we were outside, and brought them in.  Now the house smells like onions.

Been baking

We've had some glorious Spring weather these last few days.  Today, in particular, was a scorcher, topped off by a nice little thunderstorm this afternoon.  So what do you do on these toasty, almost-Summer days? Well, according to Katheirne, we were baking today.  It wouldn't have been my choice to stay inside with the oven blaring, but it was probably still cooler inside than say, going out to the park.

We made Anzac biscuits, date loaf and biscotti.  I'm going to share the biscotti recipe, because it's something that is dead easy to make, is delicious, looks a little bit fancy, and let's face it - is probably a whole lot healthier than the other two.

Cranberry & Pistachio Biscotti

Ingredients:

3 egg whites

1/2 cup caster sugar

1/2 cup pistachio kernels (unsalted)

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1 cup plain flour

Method:

Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form.  

Add sugar and continue beating until dissolved.  The mixture will be thick and glossy.

Fold in pistachios, cranberries and flour until mixture is just combined.

Pour into a greased loaf tin and bake at 180C for approx 30 minutes.

Remove from oven, and when cool enough turn the loaf out onto a board.

Slice thinly with a very sharp knife - the sharper your knife, the better the result (I use a very sharp bread knife, but I have heard electric knives are great also).  

Place slices in a single layer on a baking tray and return to the oven for around 15-20 minutes, or until crisp and just starting to turn golden.  You might want to turn your oven down slightly for the second bake if you have a very hot oven - mine burns everything. 

Allow to cool and then enjoy with a cuppa.

Biscuits will keep for a couple of weeks in an airtight container.

I love making these at Christmas time with a little cinnamon and orange peel in the mixture.  It also makes a great little Christmas gift (for teachers, neighbours, workmates etc) if you package it up nicely in some cellophane bags with a bit of Christmas ribbon.  

Mummy's dress into little girls dress - part 2

I had so much fun cutting up my old blue dress and giving it a new life that I went rummaging through my wardrobe to see what else I could transform.  I've got so many clothes that I never wear - a mixture of poorly thought out impulse buys and old favourites that - let's face it - will probably never fit me again.

I found this dress that was a favourite when I was pregnant with Ellie.  Now it just makes me look pregnant.  It wasn't expensive, and I couldn't see myself wearing it any time soon, plus I really loved the fabric.

I had also seen this dress recently and really wanted to achieve a similar look. Yes, of course it is Pumpkin Patch!

I used this Pumpkin Patch dress for inspiration

I cut off the dress at the waist and made the dress the same way as the previous one, except for this one I didn't worry about the flutter sleeves, and I added a sash. The fabric was quite thin so I used the existing lining to line the dress. I also kept the original hem of the dress as it worked out to be a good length anyway and didn't really need hemming.  Here's the front:

And the back:

I also made a little headband with a yo-yo flower out of the scraps.