To the people of Japan

oh. my. god.
Huge thoughts and sympathies to you all re this awful awful earthquake with its resulting tsunamis and fires.
And,
THANK YOU so much for your brave, professional and extremely hard working rescue teams that were here in NZ in Christchurch.  They are on a plane right now, heading back to you.

love
the people of New Zealand

Another weekend, another leotard

I bought the black fabric last year cos I just couldn't resist it for Tink, even though she had plenty of leos at that point.  Picked up the contrast colour a couple of weeks ago from Angel Fabrics when shopping for this year's leo fabrics.  Then had to let the ideas and construction method simmer for awhile... the success of the daisy leo for Elianor gave me the confidence to just get on with it.  So here it is, the first of Tink's three comp leotards for the 2011 season:

She and Jess think this one is cool - yay!

While the cat's away...

..or in this case, DH was off fishing with his brother, Jess was staying over at Nana's and Tink was happily entertaining herself, and so look what I managed to make during one day of peace and quiet:

I really like this one.  Love the base colour, love how it all came together in one day from cutting out through to the last crystal going on.
It's a birthday gift for one of Tamsin's team mates, a sweet kid who is turning 8 three days before Tink's 9th birthday (next week, yikes).  Cross your fingers that I haven't made it too small...
Either way, one done in a day and 3 leos in one month - gotta be a record, no?

UPDATE:  Elianor loves her birthday present, and the fit issue?  Her mum, Elianor and I are all glad the season is early and short this year and are hoping she doesn't grow too much over the next 4 months as it fits very very well....

stitch'n'bling

Yet another leotard!

Next on the experimental list was to see what size Jess is this season, so I made up something in a size 12, as she's having trouble getting last season's ones on. 
It was easier to get into, but too long in the body - making it wrinkled above the skirt and have a baggy butt.  Jess has my sister's build: very broad across the back.  I think I'm going to have to expand my skills to include using invisible zips in leotards...

One good thing about these photos: I can see where more flowers and leaves are needed for aesthetics and "coverage"!

Rene la Frog

Another statistic to cancer...
A fabulous fellow stitcher, whom I met on the Yahoo group 2muchXS and whose blog is in my sidebar, lost her battle with cancer last week.  I had been worried about Rene's failing health for some time now (meaning she wasn't posting), but managed to find via the stitcher blogs a post with the news - thanks for the update Floss Junkie.
May you be stitching in your heavenly armchair Rene, safe from that which makes reverse stitching necessary.
Miss you, and my thoughts are with your husband and family who you loved so much.

playing in the lycra stash again

Experimenting with sizing as the girls have actually grown - and not just in limb length for a change!  Going sleeveless is both quick and avoids the obvious "my arms have outgrown the leo before my body has" look, teehee. 

Conclusion drawn from the experiment: Tink will now be in size 6 leos for the 2011 season.

It needs more bling... currently there are crystals on the points of the stars.  I think I'll outline the stars in crystals, but that's all.  That'll take long enough!

do not adjust your sets

I made this leo for Jess, as an experiment in construction and applique skills.  I thought it was fab (it's still my favourite of the 7 I made in 2010), but Jess was very reluctant to wear it, although she came to like it and it was worn for freehand at the last few comps of the year, including Nationals. 

She thought it was too loud.

It's known as "the frangipani leo" and it is eye popping on the comp floor - which is the point of RG leos, no?