3 RED BUTTONS

pressing play

2011-12-12T22:16:00.001+11:00

Murmuration from Sophie Windsor Clive on Vimeo.

2 Weekends

2011-11-28T22:33:00.004+11:00

Weekend I

Weekend II

week's end

2011-11-17T10:37:00.005+11:00

I'm officially calling an end to this week.

We're skipping kinder, playgroup and drama.

The Mr misses out. He gets to go to work.
And he gets to deal with the house in the state we leave it in upon departure.
But he also gets 2 nights at home sans children.
(or more importantly 2 mornings!)

We're heading to a smaller Island.

We're heading for a lighthouse adventure.

We're heading to celebrate a birthday.

There is much excitement (think :: chaos) in the house...suitcases are being wheeled around with reckless abandon, I'm wearing shoes to protect my toes. I'm overhearing whispered conversations about sneaking more 'essential' items into said suitcases. I'm ignoring it.

It has been a perfectly ordinary week which I've been feeling thankful for in the light of others in the midst of less ordinary circumstances.

celery experiments (I can grow it, I just can't stand to eat it raw)

copious amounts of breastfeeding

park visits where 2 boys ignored all the play equipment the entire time

Inexplicable excitement over visiting the dentist, equally inexplicable gloom over not having a new tooth growing like her brothers.

The house and yard are littered with paper planes, paper planes in production, discarded paper planes. I find myself watching you tube clips on making paper planes (over, and over, and over again), I have discussions about what paper planes are the best, what makes a plane fly...or more often why it will not fly as predicted. I know there are planes packed to see if they fly better when launched from a lighthouse (they would have to, I'm certain!)

I've raided the garden, we're off

Happy weekending to you, I've a boat to catch.

more baby pants

2011-11-10T10:50:00.003+11:00

It seems a long time since I took part in 'Creative Spaces', mostly as I have not had the time to make much or I have not had the time to browse around all the other creative spaces.

Them's the breaks I guess.

But with the outbreak of warm sunny weather since my last post, there has been a need for summer baby pants, the kind where toes may wiggle freely.

Everyone has been enjoying the bare feet, or bare bodies that warm weather herald.

The pattern is this one with a few modifications for a bit more room in the seat for cloth nappies and the waistband from a cotton/elastine t-shirt rather than elastic for a more comfy feel...it's more of the shirt from my last round of baby sewing. The rest of the pants are made from vintage cotton sheets, nice and soft against baby skin.

Now to see if I can get some of the various sized shorts sewn up while this weather holds out!

Some more creative spaces over this-a-way

High pants :: long pants

2011-11-04T10:37:00.004+11:00

Sewing for babies can seem a pointless task at times given the deluge of barely-worn baby hand-me-downs that you receive when people hear you are pregnant. And the fact the good old Bonds wondersuit is all they need most of the time as a newborn. Plus it can be super fiddly working on things that small.

But it is such an easy way to use up small amounts of fabrics, to experiment with upcycling and because if you want your smalls to wear handmade, you need to start ASAP because before you know it they will not be so interested in wearing those pants you made from one of dads old shirts!

Having said all that I've managed very little baby sewing so far (which is fine). But having recently carved out a little sewing space after some major spring cleaning and rearranging I did manage to make a start.

These wool pants were actually made the week before Rueben was born. Or they were sewn up the week before he was born, they were cut out a few weeks earlier. I used an not-so-old fine merino wool jumper of mine that had a few holes in it (Ahhh!). I used this pattern with a few modifications. They turned out to be rather high-waisted which actually works well as warm overpants when going out as they add another layer to his tum.

harry-high-pants pants!

I'm not that into baby socks as they always seem to be too small, fall off after a few squirms or get lost in the wash. Consequently I am into pants with feet to keep those little toes warm. As Reuben has started to stretch out as well as grow he is growing out of his pants/suits with feet in length only (squashed toes can't be comfy). So rather than face any outing with 4 smalls in tow I decided to just add length to some of the baby pants and suits.

It was quick easy sewing with great results...

It's not really a tutorial but here are some pics that might show you how to do it.

Much easier than a shopping trip!

Rainy days

2011-10-28T10:46:00.004+11:00

the weeks end
a day at home
saying yes as often as possible today
(a good excercise if only to remind me how often I say no to the zillions of requests I seem to get most days)
staying in pajamas all day if we want
crafting instead of breakfast first thing

:: Mr Details-details-details

:: Sir Snip-a-lot

:: Ms Stick-a-lot

Sunny days

2011-10-24T12:02:00.006+11:00

Three days since mum departed.

We are all surviving and starting to put together something of a routine
(I use the word routine rather loosely)

The gorgeously sunny days of late have been put to good use with a visit to the beach
(I even managed a dip.... quite literally a dive in, run straight out, feeling very much alive!)

We spent a good part of the weekend out in the yard

:: gardening

wishing scarecrows kept weeds at bay

preparing a strawberry patch for this summer

plans for planting out seedlings...not actually a reality yet

:: gathering greens from the garden

Finding a quick and easy way to use up a bag full of spinach and the last of the garlic cloves

wishing I'd never planted those horrendously spiky artichokes

frittata from the garden (with the last of our pink eyes)

asparagus pizza
(mountain bread, sour cream, asparagus, salt&pepper)

:: Meanwhile

Baby sleeping in hammock

Kids getting seriously grotty

Back to rain and grey today, but with a slight tan line to remember the recent sunny days.

boy o' boy

2011-10-18T05:08:00.002+11:00

Already it feels like he has always been with us

born (with less haste than his siblings...phew)

7 October 2011

Reuben Henry

Now a little gang of 3 brothers (gulp)

With one sister, holding her own for now
(while still holding out for 2 more siblings....both girls....to make it even)

(as Leo would say "NO WAY")

He has been kind to us so far with much feeding and sleeping. I'm under no illusions that it will continue this way but for now it is nice to so easily meet the needs of one of my peeps.

Having my mum still with us has made the whole experience much easier for everyone.

thank you
thank you
thank you
mum

Holidays

2011-09-09T14:19:00.006+10:00

I like school holidays.

Strange but true, perhaps.

Unfortunately the first week was filled with sick kids and an overwhelming and never-ending amount of snot and thankfully not quite so much vomit. The sun came out to dry all the associated washing and the kids were fairly subdued (and whingy) so there was plenty of hanging out in the garden and baring my oh-so-white legs to the Spring warmth. I managed to ~~waddle~~ wander around the yard pulling some of the weeds that came out easily after all the rain we have had lately.

Being at home reminded me that we have a new babe arriving soon and that instead of stashing baby stuff under the house I should wash & sort it all out! I forgot how many zillions of pegs are required for all that little stuff.

The snot is drying up now and the rains have returned so we are plotting a few adventures for next week when my mum arrives (an eagerly anticipated event). Until then the kids are amusing themselves with puzzles (they are all slightly puzzle obsessed at the moment), reading (Leo has been introduced to the Richard Scarry book collection by his big brother)

and dressing-up, oh the dress-ups. The place has been full of midwives, superheroes, princesses, kings, knights, firefighters, farmers, builders, dogs, and various other folk.

The dress-up basket is invariably emptied each day in search of the perfect ensemble.

The other short-lived source of entertainment was our old mattress which provided much amusement, jumping and somersault practice, head knocks and then a rash all over Leo's legs due no doubt to any number of allergens that had accumulated in that mattress over the million years we had it.

Two more weeks of holidays to go, I'll see if I still like it as much by then!
(especially as Addie is currently obsessed with playing a Christmas CD she found at the op shop)

Ahh the sunshine

2011-08-23T15:12:00.003+10:00

I'm happily falling for the notion that winter is over

:: flowers from the garden & neighbourhood for the kitchen window sill
:: eggs from our girls
:: sink full of dishes crudely cropped from the photo

we've also been out collecting for flower pressing

I regularly find these at the op shop and the smalls love them; the collecting, the pressing, the waiting, the forgetting, the remembering

Cloth

2011-08-17T11:44:00.006+10:00

I do so like if I can use some old cloth instead of buying something disposable.

Given the state of the cloth wipes I made back before Leo was born and the fact I have quite the collection of old towels and flannel sheet offcuts I launched into making a new batch in preparation for the next baby.

Armed with a new rotary cutter and too much enthusiasm for such a tedious task I cut up a few ~~old~~ vintage towels & flannel in quick succession. A large part of my thinking at the time was based on how much time a rotary cutter saves and how amazingly sharp a new blade is. This thought was of course followed by my next cut also removing a large slice of my finger. A sacrificial strip of flannel and a long sit down followed. Those superficial slices can really bleed!

That was well over a month ago and with my finger healed I tackled the unfinished wipes by overlocking the edges with no further injuries sustained. I'm liking this selection of towels from the days well before the super-sized white bath sheet.

Now I'm just working my way through the pile tying off the ends. A few have already entered circulation, along with these bibs, which were fast to make up and work well (I wonder if I'll ever use bias binding again now that I have fold-over elastic?)

Postcards from recent times

2011-08-06T11:59:00.010+10:00

The feeling of needing to get things done is increasing in direct proportion to my inability to see my feet, but looking back over the last couple of weeks we have been making progress while still fitting in fun things....

Another 2011 snowday

yah for polar fleece!

(and for these old-style thrifted snowsuits)

(and for warm drinks in the van when the clouds roll in)

(and for undercover clothes lines to dry everything out)

Girls only lunches out

Playing in our yard, which is now just a series of puddles....

another shirt for the dye pot!

the building of new bookcases to prepare the ~~junk room~~ ~~sewing room~~ ~~spare room~~ potential third bedroom for guests and eventually baby change table and other baby paraphernalia.

These span the wall above our bed (and amazingly fitted exactly - without prior measuring - and went up much faster than expected). They are in the process of being filled with those books we have not culled plus a variety of other homeless bits. Given there will soon be six of us living in a reasonably small house, we are attempting to use the bits of space that are usually wasted....the walls. It's not very zen perhaps but there was not much zen going on around here anyway!

Our efforts in the dining room have stalled due to a series of laughable exchanges with electricians who advertise as happy to do domestic work but never turn up, call back or act remotely interested in moving the offending power point. Meanwhile the bits we have done fill up with more homeless bits and pieces!

Cold-busting juices (I've discovered the secret to regular juicing is to do it the night before as I have little time or enthusiasm for the actual juicing bit first thing in the morning...the noise alone is a dreadful start to the day)

Lots of soup weather lately, thankfully the kids are into minestrone
(made using the recipe from here anyway)

It can be heartening to download recent photos from the digital camera to be reminded of the good things that do not necessarily stick in my memory :: because really who has time to take photos of towering piles of washing and dishes, siblings arguing and whining or evenings where the house looks like a bomb has gone off!

Press play......

2011-07-31T00:10:00.004+10:00

two

2011-07-13T11:07:00.004+10:00

It's true (according to the calender)

Leo is two today

Our wispy-haired mud-loving baby is officially a little boy

Leo decided the best method to celebrate was to wake last night about the time my waters broke 2 years ago and then fidget in our bed for the next 3 hours until finally going back to sleep about the time of his actual birth. Despite the lack of sleep we managed to all squeeze into our bed for the present unwrapping and happy-birthday singing. He now has a larger baby doll to drag around, just like the one he tries to take from Adelaide most days.

A flurry of baby-doll dressing ensued

Adelaide also selected a new drawing book for him

A little cake-eating yet to come, best get baking....

And bump makes 6

2011-07-08T14:43:00.006+10:00

One of the reasons for less blogging of late has been the getting-ones-head-around the fact we are soon to be a family of 6. What started out as shock (yes we do know how such things happen) turned into a dawning reality of the practicalities (a new car, replacing all those baby things we had given away, going back to the joys/trials of early baby days) to the now building excitement in the house over 'the new baby'.

Max is looking forward to being old enough to look after the baby while I go out (??)*
Adelaide is looking forward to having a sister called Rosie (??)**
Leo likes to pat my expanding tummy proudly exclaiming 'bubba' , while carrying his own bubba around most of the day

* if only!
** we don't know if it is a girl or boy and either way I can safely say Rosie is not on the list!

So the new car (can you call a van a car?) has been bought, we plot various other ventures that seem less and less likely to happen before the baby arrives, just little things like a new kitchen and putting together a mountain of IKEA cabinets that are currently filling our garage (the garage that the new car could never hope to fit into!)

Despite all the madness, or perhaps because of it, I've been attempting to simplifying life a bit and get some better rhythms in place before the real chaos begins. Some days it feels like it's working, other days I wonder aloud if the chaos could actually increase?

This post brought to you with the aid of:

:: playdough

:: a quick-eze

:: a napping little one

:: dinner in the slow-cooker

:: a pot of tea

:: the ability to overlook various piles of washing, paperwork, books, fabric, kids-crafting projects, dishes and the like

:: fresh flowers on the windowsill....somewhere for my eyes and mind to take refuge from the general chaos of the rest of the house.

Of late :: going slow

2011-06-07T09:41:00.012+10:00

Goodbye Autumn

We have just had one of the nicest weekends in a while. It will probably sound rather dull to most with a weekend that on paper seemed full of chores & hanging out at home. But it was perfect for us right now. We caught up on some jobs that seemed to have loitered on our 'to do' list for weeks, things like clearing the kitchen benches, cleaning the bathroom and finally planting out the garlic (so much for an Easter tradition!)

This involved pulling out the tomatoes that just kept on giving
(long after we were willing to gather, roast & bottle)
hallelujah!

We took the time to slow down, to write a list of what we each wanted to do and gave it our best shot at doing most of the things on the list. There was little socialising but lots of just hanging out as a family, doing domestic chores together and hanging out in the brief patches of sunshine. In the garden there was lots of digging for worms, mixing in lime and child-friendly planting of garlic bulbs and broad beans. The anticipation for broadies is growing as Adelaide keeps a close eye on her favourite winter crop.

Perfect for right now.

Especially for Max who's focus is shifting ever more away from me and onto his Dad. His 'to do' list is always the same at the moment :: play mobilo with Dad.

A large part of our slowing down has been the start of school holidays. The home rhythm has been so much easier without the "Kinder runs" and we have had the time to start up a few things that fell by the wayside during school term :: baking bread, afternoon walks, science experiments and visiting some of our favourite parks around town. Most welcome has been the return of the sleep-in!

Daily walks 'out the back' have been due in part to not wanting to drive anywhere and having our neighbours little dog for the month. I've never even thought of getting a little dog but Minnie is perfect for the smalls to walk on their own (plus she takes up minimal floor space in the lounge room at night)

Exploring our 'own' bush patch has meant finding :: lots of weeds to pull, rubbish to collect, birds to note, treasures to hoard and an ever growing interest in nature that makes me glad for the effort that getting out & about in winter can often involve.

Generally we all come back calmer (except on the days where one of us has a melt down....it's not all frolicking in the winter sun...I just don't have time for photos mid-meltdown) and with improved appetites for dinner, which has generally meant less fuss around eating :: hallelujah!

Leo has discovered the joy of books and is often badgering one of us to sit & read. Having an older book obsessed brother helps but if all else fails he'll just lay down underfoot to mutter & point while being a major trip hazard in our small kitchen.

Slowing down has also meant some in-house training on dressing oneself. Adelaide is on board and with the occasional reminder that it is now winter she is dressing herself each morning. I'm biting my tongue about her outfit selections as long as all limbs are covered. There is no doubt that since she started pre-school more and more pink & purple are being selected. I'm biting my tongue hard on that one (most of the time).

Max struggles with the concept of seeing a task through to completion & can often be found just sitting in his room lost in a book in various states of dress/undress with any idea of what he was doing long forgotten. I can only assume he has taken the idea of SLOW and applied it solely to the task of dressing himself.

Given how busy our lives can sometimes feel, this recent period of slowing down has been just what we've needed as we settle into winter.

A couple of people asked about recipes for drying/bottling apples. I'm not sure if I'm the one to ask but this is what has worked for us to date [caveat: A Google search will probably give more detailed instructions then my fly-by-night methods employed to date]

Dried apples

:: borrow dehydrator
:: forage for apples
:: fill a medium bowl with water & squeeze in juice of 2-3 lemons
:: peel, core & slice apples (a working apple peeler is kid-friendly &makes this much faster)
:: soak cut apple in lemon water for about 5 minutes
:: fill dehydrator trays (our soaking bowl holds about 1 trays worth)
:: run dehydrator at 55 degrees Celsius for about 8 hours or until they are as dry as you like.

We like ours still a bit bendy so if you want crispy ones you may need to go for longer. Unfortunatley this process can not be split over several days. Now I'm budgeting for a dehydrator. The one I planned on buying only has 9 trays which I was a bit initially worried about. Given my recent foray into dehydrating I now know that 9 trays is well & truly my limit when it comes to preparing the fruit! The fruit leather was made using the apple sauce (recipe below) mixed with other blended stuff & spread out rather thickly on the special plastic leather-making tray liner.

Apple sauce

:: peel core & chop apples (rough is fine if you plan to use a mill to sauce them)
:: add a little water & lemon juice to the largest stock pot you have
:: fill with apples, I start them cooking then use the soaking bowl as above to add batch after batch
:: add spices as you like (cinnamon, nutmeg, etc)
:: cook until all the apples are softened and cooked through
:: put through a mill or sieve if you want it sauced (or just blend & ignore the occasional bit of seed)
:: fill clean bottling jars (I use an old Fowlers kit)
:: Sterilize according to your preserving kit/method.

This sauce process takes me a few days, one day we peel & cook, the next (if we are lucky) we sauce it, the next day (if we are lucky) we bottle it. So I generally do LARGE batches that deal with lots of apples at a time to make it worth while. Having someone to wash all the dishes helps considerably (as always!)

Right now :: Apples

2011-05-18T13:26:00.005+10:00

Apples harvested from a generous neighbours tree ( the hard part is picking apples whilst entertaining 3 smalls after their enthusiasm for picking has worn....5 minutes into the excursion)

peeling (with the aid of a clamp as the suction piece on the bottom worked for about 3 minutes)

peels for smalls + chooks + compost

Apples for juicing, drying, baking, yet more applesauce & fruit leather

Dried apples for storage when the fresh supply runs out

fruit leather made from apple sauce & various other bits & pieces from the freezer/fruit bowl. This lot contains applesauce, zucchini and plums I stewed & froze in summer

I've not entirely forgotten about the quinces
their day will come, hopefully soon before the rot sets in

kcw - the comfy pants

2011-05-14T18:35:00.003+10:00

So the second kido has received his 'kids-clothes-week' pants (I've dropped the challenge bit as I have enough of those already) . I haven't got around to sewing up the orange cords (from my previous post) yet as I look for some fabric for the pockets - laughable really given the piles of fabric littering our house!

But I did manage to finish off another of the up-cycled pants I planned for Max. These were made from a pair of old grandpa (or grandma) pants that I found on the 50 cent rack at our local op-shop. The pockets were some I had unpicked a while ago from a linen skirt (another project) and the waistband was some lovely soft linen from yet another cut-up old skirt.

I wanted these lined for real winter pants so Max selected this thin black fleece because it was so 'comfy' and soft. I basically just cut out the same pants pattern minus the side seam (I overlapped the pattern pieces along the side to take account of the seam allowances). Then I just overlocked them up & trimmed them at the waist & hem so they would fit into the pants waistband & hem.......this picture may explain what I'm talking about.

Max is pleased and suddenly looking all lanky & long. He did suggest I make the pockets out of fleece next time, which is not a bad idea for keeping mitten-less hands warm. The fleece is rather forgiving & can just be stretched into place if a bit out. Given the mountain was covered in snow all day & we had a birthday party in a park all afternoon they did a great job of keeping him warm (aided by all the running/riding around).

kcw - spotty bot pants

2011-05-10T19:56:00.004+10:00

I finished the monkey spat pants today. Adelaide has given them a big tick and despite being worn in the sandpit all afternoon she HAD to wear them to bed tonight.....what's a bit of sand in amongst all the other things she stashes under her duvet. I'm slowly being won over to sewing with knit fabric....it comes together so quickly (especially with an overlocker/serger). Just the type of sewing I need right now. These pants are a very slim fit with straight legs that work best if you add a bit more fullness around the upper legs (I forgot to on these ones). They are made from a soft brushed back stretch cotton that has plenty of stretch.

The next lot of pants will be for Max, cut from this assorted collection of Grandpa/ma pants

I've started with the rust-orange cords that I plan to line with thin fleece for really cold days.

Not sure when I'll get to sew these up but at least they are cut out & ready to go if a spare few moment appears and I need an excuse not to do another load of washing.

There is plenty of inspiration to be found over at Elsie Marley.

Autumn proper

2011-05-10T00:12:00.006+10:00

I'm going to get in quick or I'll check back in on this blog in a few more weeks and still find it stuck in early Autumn. The broccoli, tomatoes, zucchinis and parents (from my previous post) have all gone, some are missed more than others.

Some of the quinces went to neighbours, many were turned into quince paste or jelly, some eventually made it to the compost (after lingering near the front door for far to long) and there is STILL one box waiting patiently out in the 'big fridge' (near the front door). Who knows if the remaining quinces will become paste or compost. Our apples have all been picked and are meeting a better fate than the composted quinces, there has been sauce making, juices, pies & general munching.

The rugging up has started for afternoon walks usually resulting in
fresh-faced rosy-cheeked babes!

The winter-warming recipes are being welcomed back to the dinner table with the smalls starting to eat (very mild) curries in amongst their usual fare.
The slow cooker has been pulled out of hibernation.

After a bunch of sewing for last weeks market I was glad to see Elsie Marley is hosting her kids clothes week again. I'm hoping to get a few clothes sewn up for my own smalls, the requests so far have been for 'pajama pants that don't go up my bottom' (Adelaide), 'some very soft comfy pants' (Max) and some winter pants for Leo that actually cover his ankles.

To kick things off I've cut out a pair of these for Adelaide's request.

She grew out of her last pair a long time ago and they were by far the best 'don't go in your bottom' pants she has had to date. I would say that the pattern is better suited to slim kids or make sure you have a really stretchy fabric for the chunky-kid version (or as Max recently said about Leo's chubby wrist...'he has such soft meat')

Early Autumn

2011-04-07T11:43:00.009+10:00

The signs of Autumn are now all around us.

The things I'm feeling especially grateful for

:: my parents visiting and freeing up my time so I can do previously unimaginable tasks like clearing the side board of the accumulated detritus of our lives.

:: Autumnal salads

:: The smell of quinces as I walk through the front door

:: A sudden broccoli glut that helped me discover a new recipe

:: The final zucchini harvest (if I go & pull the rest of the plants out this afternoon)

:: A much smaller pumpkin harvest

:: Our conker collection

:: Evenings warm enough to still eat outside

:: Ripening tomatoes to rest my eyes upon while doing the dishes

And now I'm off to have lunch with Tim sans children!

This is quite possibly a first for us since Max arrived 5 years ago.

My folks have whisked them all away camping for the next three days.

THAT IS

THREE DAYS!!!!
+
THREE NIGHTS!!!!

Purple food - is good

2011-04-06T13:07:00.006+10:00

I seem to be getting better and better at hiding the foods my children will not eat in such a way that they unknowingly eat them. Sometimes it is pureeing them and adding them to soups or sauces (hello zucchini!), some just need to be frozen or grated and they then seem happy to eat them.

While my kids happily eat certain vegetables it can be difficult to get them to branch out and try new things. Mostly they eat their vegetables separate & raw which is fine by me as it is less work. In fact often the more effort I make the less likely they are to eat the meals I have prepared. The most popular meals usually look more like a plate of ingredients rather than the final product. When I make something like nicoise salad, their version is a plate with raw beans, salad leaves, a boiled egg, some tuna and a potato. No dressing, no tomatoes (I'm the only one in the house who eats raw tomatoes...I know.....I live with freaks) and no MIXING. This they will happily eat, if you discount Adelaide's initial response to every meal I serve her

"this is awful"

or my other favourite

"this is really disgusting"

This year I grew several purple things in the garden, including

borlotti beans

and purple beans (they are in there somewhere...poking out of the hat)

One of these days I'll find the perfect garden-produce-collecting-basket and leave our hats, colanders, old nappy bucket and serving bowls alone.

The sheer purple-ness of these veggies inspired much eating from my fussiest eater and inspired me to buy some purple carrots (they look fairly black actually and when eaten raw leave their teeth looking rather ghastly...an added bonus for Max). These were a colourful addition to my small and finally (after many failed/dismal attempts) successful carrot crop this summer

This purple-food-frenzy even extends to purple cabbage so I'm off to look for some purple carrot seeds and other purple goodness online, ignoring the autumn produce that is accumulating on the front porch....quinces, apples, yet more ~~zucchinis~~ chook food, walnuts and ripening tomatoes.

Five

2011-03-25T09:25:00.008+11:00

Five years ago
(or there abouts)

we had this rolly-polly baby

now we have this delightful five year old who can

:: decorate his own cake

:: catch his own fish for dinner

:: help out with dinner (for real)

:: make a costume out of anything
(the back-to-front swimming googles in this case protect his eyes from wild dogs)

:: graciously recieve his hand made birthday presents with excitement and
gratitude that makes this mama so proud.

Adelaide was adament she wanted to sew him a present. In the end she sewed him up some sketch pads with her watercolour paintings as the covers....and managed to keep her gift a secret for one whole night (I only seem to manage to get the time for present making one day out....which is about the limit of my little peoples secret-keeping-capacity)

the sketch pads have started to be filled with still life drawings

or copied little notes....which blogger only wants to show sideways.

I found one yesterday that read "Sanitarium peanut butter crunchy".
Max assures me it is the start of a story about wolves.

Watching how a child grows into being their own person is becoming one of the most fascinating aspects of this parenting gig. How there are certain things we can influence as parents but how much of their personalities are just there.

The start of school has already fundamentally changed the rhythm of our days. Max seems to be enjoying his class & teachers while we all adjust to him not being around as much. Life with a four years old was great so I'm looking forward to life with a five year old and all that it may entail.

Getting away

2011-03-07T14:41:00.006+11:00

After only one week of Kinder I was ready for a break. I can see why parents with school children look forward to the holidays (except perhaps for those working who need to organise other care). Max seems to be going fine with Kinder, although it is hard to get any real information out of him at the end of the day. I like the little school we decided to send him to, even though I still have moments of doubt (mostly about the fact we need to drive to it *GROAN* and my belief that the long hours children eventually spend in school are more to do with allowing parents to work than what they need to learn).

Thanks to friends getting married we got the break we all needed and headed up the east coast of Tasmania in a gigantic hired-campervan. Despite this gloomy picture we actually had great weather for the rest of the week.

The wedding was fantastic. Gorgeous location, great food, perfect weather, kid-friendly (which was handy considering they were suddenly everywhere) & very relaxed. Plus we managed to find a very capable babysitter for later in the evening. The following day was spent down at the beach. Leo was very concerned about the fact we left our shoes on the beach while swimming. Here he is hollering to Tim about his forgotten shoes.

We then headed off on our own adventures, lounging about with grey nomads, eating fresh crayfish, lolling about in rock pools, fishing, evening walks and hanging out on the beach.

We are back into the Kinder routine now but thankfully there is a long weekend of camping coming up to keep me going.

Sand (& water & whatever else) pit - thank you

2011-02-23T23:27:00.006+11:00

In a week that combined the start of Kinder for Max, pre-school for Addie, school lunches/drop offs/pick ups for us, a busy...busy work week for Tim and seemingly a zillion other things I'm glad for the peace that something as simple as a sandpit can offer (although our sandpit is more aptly called an ever-growing sandy patch in the middle of the yard).

Once the kids are outside the play really begins. Gone are the ideas I had earlier in this parenting game about a sort-of neat box of sand with rules about not adding water, sheep poo, grass clippings or large pots of mud. Now it is very much about the kids doing whatever they like as long as I'm left out of it.

It seems to be an arrangement that suits all of us

This large pot makes a great focus (& sand bath apparently!)

sand & 'pearls'

There is of course a fair amount of sand eating

and sand-drinks to be had (the proof is in the nappies!)

It is a rather messy affair but nothing keeps them all as focused for as long (unattended)

Thank you, thank you sandpit

(+water + dirt + grass clippings)

Friday foraging

2011-02-11T14:56:00.003+11:00

With the price of fruit & vegetables I'm trying to turn Fridays into our 'at home' day where we can get some work in the garden done, do some preserving or just wander the neighbourhood collecting fruit from neighbours, overgrown lane ways or overhanging trees. Here is today's collection for the freezer/fruit bowl.

peaches, blackberries & plums (minus those consumed on the walk home!)

playing catch up

2011-02-09T22:17:00.009+11:00

wow, that was quite a blog-break!

Not sure what happened there...no major upheavals, just the general madness of a market, a broken camera, interstate travel, Christmas, traveling back, unpacking (oh how I detest the unpacking!), getting back into a groove, summer gardening and all that jazz.

So I'm going big on pictures, slim on words for this little catch-up post.

Christmas was a great time with plenty of cousins, aunts, uncles & grandparents.

There were beach visits

rope swings
(I made the pics too big & can't be bothered redoing them so just click on it to see it all if you want)

sprinkler fun

catching up with friends & hanging out in Melbourne

We arrived home to a clean house and tended garden (yah for house sitters)
40 minutes later we had several suitcases unpacked and the place trashed
*sigh*

Since then it has just been hanging out in Hobart....

dealing with summer fruits (bottling, jamming & eating)

inaugural harvests from last years plantings
(grapes & peaches)

feeding oneself
(he feeds, I do the extra washing)

using Christmas presents (more on this one later)

re-using the Christmas fabric wrapping bags (a-la-Soulemama)

experimenting

and getting in some practice* before kinder starts
(*the school wood-work bench is eagerly anticipated)

*phew*

Tonight the house is filled with the aroma of roasting tomatoes, garlic, shallots & herbs in preparation of this years first batch of roast tomato passatta. This is a huge improvement on the smell of overflowing compost (thankfully from the overflowing compost!) that was wafting around the kitchen prior to the baking. Interestingly it took me an hour and a half to prepare the tomatoes for roasting and it would have only taken me 1 minute to empty the compost bucket.

An insight into my general approach to housekeeping/life perhaps?

Nasturtiums

2010-12-06T13:17:00.002+11:00

Busy, busy days

My Creative Space - lavender

2010-12-02T09:55:00.004+11:00

I'm going into market preparation mode, trying to finish at least one thing each ~~day~~ night. It helps that I have several things not far from completion (elastics to thread, buttonholes to clip, buttons to stitch) blah, blah, blah. Last night I finished of a few lavender filled sachets (one of the best-scented jobs on my list). For entertainment I have Leo on guitar & Adelaide at the table dictating and writing postcards to the neighbouring children (all manner of stories that keep me amused as I listen in on the continual commentary).

And just in case you thought this was a veggie-free post

no such luck
artichokes

for the final creative space for 2010 head over here

National broadbean rollout & other garden news

2010-11-25T13:24:00.006+11:00

Growing & eating fresh & seasonal is often made out to be more glamorous than it actually is. At our place what it usually means is major gluts of various produce. The last couple of weeks I've been harvesting spinach. This is how the early harvests looked, manageable & reasonably pleasant on the eye...

In reality with the amount of spinach in the garden (going to seed), there were a few nights spent washing & cooking copious green leafy bunches, with dirt clumps spilling all over the kitchen
(see that exclusive black silicone strip under the taps...definitely not mould!)

Like most work it was worth it in the end..

This week it is all broad beans, broad beans, broad beans

with a few compost bag mushrooms thrown in for good measure

(Tricia has better instructions than I'll ever get around to writing)

When invited out for another broad bean rummage & harvest, Max informed me that Julia Gillard is also having a broad bean roll out, he heard it on the radio! There are lots of great broad bean recipes out there, but for the most part ours are eaten freshly double shelled, or raw.

so there are no worries in regard to us getting our greens currently, silverbeet anyone?

the after effects of camping

2010-11-24T13:41:00.003+11:00

We went camping on the weekend, long gone are the days of light weight hiking!

This morning I put the last few bits of cleaned gear away downstairs
(to stop the kids thinking/asking if we were going camping again)

The camping trip was great
ignoring the bit where I tried to put Leo to bed at his normal sleep time,
next time he can play around in the dirt a bit longer until it is dark!

The main problem was that it was only for 2 days (which requires the same amount of gear as a 2 week trip!) The other problem was that while I tried to pack everything away the kids trashed the rest of the house, the ants started attacking the silkworms & no-one planted my long suffering tomato seedlings!

Living in Hobart

2010-11-16T21:17:00.003+11:00

Today was a gorgeous Hobart sunny day.

The kids declared it hot enough to fill up the splash pool.

The swimmers are still out on the line.

and yet

yesterday was cold, wet and grey.

To wear the kids out & give them their dose of outside play ,

I dug out the winter suits (packed away LAST week)

and they all put on gumboots to go splashing in puddles/mud/unidentified squishy bits.

The suits are also still hanging on the line drying.
(although after today they would be dry, and yet they are still there)

you never know what you will get
(particularly if you never look at the weather forecasts)

My Creative Space - letter storage

2010-11-11T10:12:00.004+11:00

Having all our family living interstate the smalls are amassing a collection of letters, these are currently stuffed into various shelves, bags or pockets. In an effort to keep them all together I'm making up some simple letter storage bags.

I've already made a few of these for an upcoming market so it is nice to be doing some sewing for the restless natives.

I've also been sewing up some cushion covers, so nice & quick after sewing girls dresses for weeks now. These are also for my next market in December but I'll be happy if they don't sell as then I won't have to make any more for our place! The print is from the very talented Kristen Doran and I've had lots of practice using invisible zips now....time for a summer skirt I think.

More creative spaces over this way.

A taste of summer

2010-11-09T20:49:00.005+11:00

Don't all rush to the pool, we enjoy having it all to ourselves!

My Creative Space - orders and disorder

2010-11-04T09:36:00.005+11:00

The house is eerily quiet this morning with only Leo & I here. Adelaide is having a trial day at our local pre-kinder (with Max to show her the ropes) after many moons of requests (basically ever since her backpack was finished!)

So I'm taking the time to finish off a few orders (ignoring the disorder around me that needs some attention later today), cut out some more and have a cup of hot tea while trying my hardest to not hover over Leo who is practising climbing onto the lounge, teetering on the edge while raising his arms in the air triumphantly declaring a DAA-DAH (my cue to turn, look & encourage him to climb down.....backwards!)

More daa-dah's over at Kootoyoo.

edible weeds

2010-11-02T08:05:00.006+11:00

Chives have self-seeded everywhere in the garden, every crack in the path has chives sprouting from within. I can't quite bring myself to pull them out, so I find myself doing a crazy dance-walk trying to make my way between the garden beds.

I let the larger smalls loose with a bucket, a pair of scissors each & simple instructions on how to harvest the flowers to trial cooking them on the BBQ. We have used these flower buds with much success in stir fries and lightly fried with scrambled eggs.

They may not look like much (like much of my cooking unfortunately) but with a splash of tamari before you take them of the BBQ they are delicious, especially with some fresh local calamari, sunshine & Tim home early from work.

Some times not having enough gardening hours in the day pays off in unexpected ways
(some times!)

Snippets from the weekend

2010-10-27T12:00:00.007+11:00

I often wish I had a bit more time/energy to write more but the truth be told I don't. And some things are easier to convey in pictures anyway (especially for my distance relatives who only keep checking back to see pictures of the kids anyway!)

Finally the summery weather is here, making me want to spend everyday in the garden. The weeding & planting has started here, along with eating our meals outside & staying up well past our bedtimes because it is still light.

Last weekend we tackled many of those projects that have been in my back of my mind, just waiting for the days to get longer, the nights to be less disturbed & the right bits & bobs to be found at the tip shop.

So here it is, a late spring weekend in the burbs...

Co-joined bread, one from me, a little one created (& eaten) by Addie

mobilo swords

beetroot harvesting

broad bean snacking

outside, outside, outside play

a building project for Max and I (& his new tools)

to create a climbing frame for this years beans

a fishing game project for Max and Tim to make

some quick fish made using a washer & some old soy sauce fish
(have I mentioned I never throw anything away?)

and a bit of mango cutting & freezing for future summer smoothies
(with willing mango seed cleaners)

Looking forward to the summer to come

My Creative Space -

2010-10-21T14:11:00.004+11:00

My overlocker(serger)-catcher-thingy overfloweth....

The space next to my sewing machine now looks nothing like this mornings photo.
It's now piled high with half finished projects.
This is the normal state of that little space between the laptop & the sewing machine.

Despite my best efforts everyone in the house is getting about with little bits of thread hanging off them, there seems to be an explosion of fabric all over the ~~sewing room floor~~ house and many an evening is spent cutting out on the dining room table.

It's all in preparation for the next market I'm doing here in December.
I'm trying to have half the things I make for boys who seem to always miss out.

Of course most of the stuff is pretty unisex, like this little leopard shirt

but there has been a bit of stuff just for girls (using up some vintage covered buttons & the always beautiful to work with wool felt from here)

Plenty of distractions for me over here.

Rainy day baking

2010-10-15T16:02:00.003+11:00

Wow....one month goes by quickly in these parts as the Spring weather ramps up. There has been more time out & about

:: in the garden (oh the weeds!),
:: at parks (chasing the now walking one year old),
:: visiting friends & general Spring frolicking
:: I've started back at some local markets, the last one here (such great marketing!)
:: Max started riding his pedal bike (with so many a near misses & belly laughs)
:: My folks have been & gone (taking the smalls swimming each day, giving me many a sleep-in & child-free hours)

Of course the weather has been up & down, one day it's all summery , the next the heating is on all day! We did a bit of rainy day baking before our sunny, sunny day yesterday. We are now back to drizzle & grey, perfect for munching through the rainy day gingerbread.

My two helpers (Leo often accessorises in his apron, which works much better than a bib)

The tools (cloud cutter from here)

Arrangement directed by Adelaide

Rainy day eating at it's best

Op shop goodness

2010-09-15T15:08:00.005+10:00

There are some who may suggest that we already have enough

:: sewing machines in our house

:: bikes in our shed

:: vintage sheets in our linen cupboard

:: and suitcases for storing various collections

They would of course be wrong

All of this goodness for $35.

The sewing machine is off to see Bill the retired sewing machine repairman/enthusiast for a service & general look over. The pedal bike is for a 'Dad & son' bike maintenance project and then a summer of bike riding/crashes/near misses & pedal brake skids. The sheets will probably be chopped up for sewing PJ's. The suitcase will be used to store all the random clothing I've been collecting for refashioning projects, like that stripey knit sitting on top of the suitcase.

And the reinforcements arrive tonight in the form of my parents so I have a to do list as long as my arm(s) of projects I want to try & get done [sans little people]

I hope they bring a little spring weather with them!

Eating our greens

2010-09-13T21:18:00.004+10:00

We are still trying to eat our way through our green excess

so dinner tonight was a green version of our ricotta gnocci recipe,
a great one for the kids to roll & chop into ~~evenly sized~~ pieces

this lot had the above spinach steamed, zapped & mixed in

the sauce selections from the pantry/freezer
(everyone went for the pesto)

served with fresh peas, snowpeas & miners lettuce to make an all-round green meal

despite looking like boiled green playdough it was all eaten without fuss.

The miners lettuce has been excitely eaten by the smalls ever since I told them how fairies use these as umbrellas & love to eat them all day long

I like to think of it as encouraging their imagination rather than lying

because everyone knows that tofu comes from tow-trucks*
(in particular Terry-the-tow-truck-driver)

* I can't take the credit for this one as Max came up with it himself

There are better ways to end the day.....

2010-09-09T19:56:00.003+10:00

* the nest the kids made under the clothesline

Some days
(yesterday in particular)
the sun shines and shines
the kids happily play outside most of the day
the slow cooker is going by mid morning
I squeeze in a little sewing
I get to have a conversation on the phone
(kids still outside obviously)
everyone remains reasonably cool, calm & collected
(due to the timely supply of sleeps, snacks & smoothies)
no bills arrive
partner phones to say he will be late
slow cooker feeds everyone
so far, so good

heading for the home straight

run the bath
jump in bath to have a soak & take out some heat
kids either already undressed and tearing naked around the house
or in various states of undress
I start to feel a small amount of self-satisfaction about how smoothly the day ran,
how getting a good rhythm going works so well

when

over the edge of the bath comes...

a potty full of wee

which empties its contents on me before hitting me in the head

closely following it, Leo's face appears, filled with glee
(the other two faces filled with shock & obvious AWE)

And so ended my day, minus that self-satisfied feeling I was just about to call my own.

Things I'm loving...

2010-09-05T20:39:00.008+10:00

Things I'm really loving right now........

[if you take out the Pakistan flooding and protracted post-election posturing]

the first home-grown asparagus (eaten raw by me, me, me)
the garden is suddenly bursting (thank you rain)

three participants in the Mobilo building sessions

a bird postcard for Don

the excitement growing over upcoming swim lessons

Leo's love of bling, hats & glasses

bringing a little spring inside

easy spring skirts, this one from The Market today and this one...

made from a thrifted [hideous + ripped + 50c] maternity linen skirt

with the ESSENTIAL number THREE tag

& this bloke, on Fathers Day, for sharing in the love & the load that is parenting

THREE

2010-08-31T12:08:00.006+10:00

A rainbow birthday
Or so it seems when I look back through the photos
There was the requested rainbow bunting

the offcuts

the ever popular backpack

and the birthday girl herself (this is about where the rainbow theme peters out)

A leisurely birthday party with friends and family. I like to set the bar low for kids birthday parties....no party games (when they are this young anyway), no presents, no party bags, minimal fuss. I figure getting the house clean for a party & baking a cake is work enough. This year we suggested if friends really wanted to bring something they could rummage through their wardrobes and bring something to add to the dress-up box.

She has been a dress-upperer for a long time now...

For our girl who loves to play dress ups we now have lots of new lovelies to play with.

That said Addie & I came down with a gastro bug after the party so we have all been in our pajamas for a couple of days now. I'll spare you the details but thankfully it was only short-lived.

And being three means first haircuts (at the hairdressers thank you very much)

A big girl now

*apparently*

My Creative space - getting ready for spring

2010-08-26T13:30:00.006+10:00

As soon as I started on some new Spring pajamas the weather turned cold & Wintery.

So in a bid to get back to some Spring weather I finished off these PJ pants

made of super soft vintage cotton sheets, some of my favourite patterns

And pulled out this sheet & blanket to cut out a Leonie inspired winter skirt
(not sure when I will quite get around to doing this)

And further Spring sorting, cleaning & storing. Here all the vintage sheets together at last.

One small pile sorted, a zillion more to go....

More creative spaces over yonder

Taking my time

2010-08-23T21:50:00.005+10:00

I finished this little backpack for Adelaide last week. I think I cut it out nearly a year ago (a little after I finished Max's version). It has been floating around the house on various to-do piles with the occasional bit of work done here & there. I'm not sure why some projects just seem to drag on while others are started & finished within the week. Adelaide however decided that it needed to be finished by the time she was three, which suddenly is just around the corner!!

Then finally the stars aligned (plus she started to wax lyrical over the plastic 'my little pony' backpack in the local op shop, the one that stayed there a very long time) and so I got it done. She loves it. Loves it.

After several days of wearing it everywhere she said 'I really love my backpack, but it did take a really long time to make'. I started to feel guilty & wonder why it had taken so very long. I changed tack & decided it was really just SLOW sewing, similar to Slow cooking but without something good to eat at the end. So I explained that it does take a long time to make things (a year may be a tad longer than most) and that all those backpacks in the shops were made by someone & that despite how impossibly cheap they are they took a long time to make as well. She seemed to get it & is asking how long every little thing took to make.

I guess I should really get a push along & finish off that baby-doll (another project started long ago). I tried a couple of felt facial features (based on the original pattern) but none seemed to work. I think it's the hair so I'll try a different hair style & then go for a simpler face. Perhaps soon, perhaps in 12months time?

In the mean time these peg people (cunningly crafted in less than a minute) have been keeping the smalls busy. Dressing them up & building homes for them. Thank goodness for wooden pegs, scraps of cloth, playdough & cardboard boxes!

The final days of winter 2010

2010-08-20T10:10:00.007+10:00

I was starting to think we had missed our mountain visit this winter with minimal snow falls this year. Not that I have any complaints about the mild winter we have had (except the obvious worries about what these strange climate events mean long term). So when the mountain was snow-capped earlier this week we emptied the excursion basket of beach things & filled it with snow paraphernalia & headed up for an afternoon on the Mountain.

There was still enough snow around for some play

My legs are still feeling the effects of clambering over boulders with an extra 12 kilos
on my back and a bucket of snow to take home

We built the obligatory snowman

And brought home enough snow to build another one for our place

It's all seems a bit familiar, a winter tradition I'm looking forward to for years to come.

After a busy week I wasn't up for another excursion yesterday to see the Southern Right Whale born in the Derwent River so we have spent the morning watching it on the computer & feeling glad we live in Hobart with access to so many adventures.

Belated birthday gift

2010-08-17T09:42:00.003+10:00

Finally in the post

for a super spunky niece who turned.....

not sooooooooo long ago!

The fabric selected by Max in celebration of the bus rides from your last visit.

A week - random order

2010-08-14T23:20:00.007+10:00

Sometimes a weeks worth of photos seems much more 'romantic' than the reality but never the less it feels good to occasionally look back over the week & realise in amongst the feelings of never getting anything done, that in fact there are so many things that fill up our days. Some of the moments from the last week

making plans for all those beads (from this)

evening walks

keeping an eye on 'the choker'

Winter beach visits

:: smalls playing/sleeping while I sipped hot sweet black tea
(Hooray for remembering the thermos)
while reading this......thanks Jane....
I do believe I even snorted mid-laugh
(perhaps more than once)

Depressingly I also picked up two large bags of plastic rubbish in a very small radius. From the rubbish I collected I believe the main littering offender only eats food from snack sized individually wrapped portions and smokes (smokes a lot!)

setting the smalls up outside to play with wheat (eventually mixed with sand & water of course)

& sprouting some for the chickens who are back laying eggs for us

identifying the culprit behind the mystery-objects-in-the-bath-tub-saga (this time it was the not so mysterious towels & the bath was unfortunately full)

and some quick (and rather slap-dash) hack & sew,
the before.....well almost

the after....it may fit her in another 2 years!

There was also

:: catching up with an old friend/flatmate & her children (for chatting over cups of tea)
:: a whole day of rain (for a very thirsty garden)
:: one early morning walk (I need more of these, difficult for a natural night-owl)

And one whole day of the weekend still to go......life feels good with Spring just around the corner.

Granny Square sewing

2010-08-11T10:15:00.005+10:00

Can't crochet? Can't be bothered to crochet?

Fabric to be sewn up into some spring clothing (it was Spring yesterday, it's winter today).
Granny square print fabric from Spoonflower.

The requests from my girl are coming thick & fast!

Despite it looking like I'm increasing the fabric collection I'm actually having a major clear out & am busy decluttering. Currently it appears that I'm just creating a bigger mess as everything is pulled from cupboards & sorted into piles (& piles & piles) but bags have been dropped to the op shop, bundles have been sold off on ebay, parcels have been posted, & the keeping piles are being repacked. It is not often I feel this ruthless so I'm taking advantage of the situation.

My Creative Space - timber

2010-08-05T14:04:00.005+10:00

Given that I never seem to have enough hours in the day to do all the things I want to, I should try reducing the number of project ideas swirling around in my head. Instead I've been letting them multiply, go figure.

The most regular conversation topic at the moment is SCHOOL (where will the 4 year old be next year - another post altogether). I've been reading a lot of education philosophy books lately (with the library fines to prove it). Currently I have a crush on Maria Montessori. Unfortunately there is no Montessori school in Hobart. If you are a Montessori teacher & fancy living in Hobart, you would make a killing as every second parent wishes there was a Montessori school here. So instead I've been trying to work out which Montessori equipment we could buy, borrow or make. The toy library are not so keen on buying any Montessori equipment which is a shame as I think that would be the natural place for it. So I've a little list of things I'm looking to make.

This spindle box is the first completed project. I had a local craftsman make the box (from some recycled King Billy window frames) and I made the rods (which really was just cutting & sanding....all 45 of them!)

Max has really been getting into this as counting is a current favourite pursuit. You can read more about using a spindle box here. So continuing on the theme of numbers I got these pieces of timber to make some number rods (just more cutting & sanding really).

The only problem with Montessori is the call for order & neatness in children's surroundings. I'm all for that to, especially if it's not me creating all that order & neatness. The smalls do respond better when we are in a good rhythm & things are fairly ordered (so do I, who doesn't?), the problem is maintaining order, neatness and calm. So its a kind of, sort of, vague aim (with a large dollop of reality).

I'd love to have more time to make wooden toys/equipment but there are a whole bunch of things that I can see are just going to be made out of cardboard & large quantities of sticky tape, which is better suited to my woodworking abilities anyway. Anyway I better go find that blunt saw & get started.

More creative spaces over this way.

These days.....

2010-08-04T13:21:00.008+10:00

.....just seem to slip by in a haze of

crazy kid conversations
nose-wiping
fingernail-clipping
dish-washing
weetbix-scraping
bill-paying
minor plot-losing
book-reading
sandpit-playing

There have been other things in amongst the life-maintenance jobs that seem to take up so much time lately including

sewing pants for Leo & then realizing they are too small
& then realizing they fit Adelaide
& that she loves them
:: despite her running commentary this morning in the supermarket about all the' lovely pink things' she spied

picking cumquats from our overladen little tree :: just need to marmalade them now (any day now)

supervising crafty pursuits that rapidly descend into tears with a standing-super-reaching baby brother around. Noticing that crafting small has incorporated found cornflakes into collage :: an insight into my housekeeping standards

Completing rather unglamourous sewing projects :: waterproof mattress protectors using this tutorial from the blog with loads of inspiration Hazelnuts.

Finally finding one of these at the op shop

soon converted into wooden beads galore

I see many a new wooden bead necklace coming my way.

Yawwwwwwn

2010-07-26T10:18:00.004+10:00

from a great mathematician here

Another post brought to you by the colour green

2010-07-23T09:37:00.006+10:00

Even a cursory glance around the blogosphere shows a variety of trends, and personally I love jumping on a bandwagon from time to time.

There is the viral granny square craft craze (I wish I had more patience for crochet, but I think even if I did, I don't have any need for more granny square rugs....the op shops have provided me with excess & probably will keep doing so for years to come!) I think this trend must be equivalent to the macrame making of my mother's era....remember those owl wall hangings?

There are food/recipe trends that I've happily integrated into our diets.....baking bread, meal planning, kale chips and now thanks to a personal endorsement by Michelle my latest addition, the green smoothie.

Good in so many ways, easier to clean up after than juicing, freshening in the sense of having to dash out into the frosty garden to collect an assortment of greens, filling in your tum, and they make you feel good. Perfect for days when porridge is not appealing. And given our current green glut these are super cheap, organic (no one sees those insect holes in a smoothie) & occasionally provide a bit of protein (did I mention organic?)

I'm a convert....but will control myself from going on & on & on about how good these are (because I easily could you know).

My Creative Space - ice cream social

2010-07-22T11:38:00.003+10:00

Having a creative space seems to be a constant battle here but I did sign up to this sew-a-long and have so far managed to almost finish my first ice cream top (hemming & button still to be stitched on). I made Adelaide a size 2 and it fits perfectly (she's pretty small for her age). A great top to wear over long sleeves in winter & perfect for covering up shoulders in summer. I can see me making many more of these in the years to come.

The bird fabric was from a bunch of op shop curtains I found a few years ago....one of my favourites that I plan to use more of soon.

More spaces (every week there seem to be more & more!) over at Kristy's

& now back to the morning mission of seeing if the rug is still there under all the paper, books, sultanas, toys, lounge cushions, discarded clothing, shoes & hopefully my camera!

dirt :: hallelujah

2010-07-17T20:44:00.009+10:00

I'm so glad last week is over.

I'm usually OK with rough days (or I accept they happen) but too many in a row is just, well, too many (combined with a good dose of sleeplessness :: all children contributing equally)

So today I got out & into the dirt.

For me gardening is rarely a chore,

:: it's a slowing down
:: breathing deeply
:: hands in the dirt
:: kind of sanity

The garden has been in free fall for a while now, left to fend for itself. In most instances this has been OK, although a little dry given how little rain we have had.

A quick wander revealed the good & bad of self seeding (my number one lazy-gardener tactic)

THE GOOD

lambs lettuce (let this go to seed once & it will be your official winter salad green for life :: whether you like it or not)

in amongst the garlic or on the path....

more garlic and some self seeded miners lettuce (another friend for life)

THE BAD

all those self sown weeds now in the compost
(& before they set seed :: a small miracle)
ready for planting out

Back in March I convinced Tim that another raised bed would fit out the front of our place. It was installed with the help of my folks (and the smalls of the house).

I really like these raised beds. I get the deep beds so we can dig them in about 10-15cm all the way around to prevent grass growing into the beds. This bed provided many hours of dirt filled fun before the planting began.....

This bed was the 3rd we have put in & this time around the bed was filled with our compost & some delivered garden loam. When it was filled about halfway I put a soaker hose in it, curling it around but trying not to bend it. I put the end of the hose up one end, cut to the top of the garden bed (just refit the hose end). The rest of the bed was then filled up, covering the hose. This has meant that once seedlings get going with a bit of surface watering I can just attach the hose to the soaker hose fitting & leave it on a timer with all the water going directly to the roots. So far it has worked really well. The best part is that each day we pass the bed & can easily weed, water, plant or pick! This bed was always destined to be mostly for the smalls so that explains the insane mixture & quantity of plants now growing in it

cabbage, rocket, beet, leek, chervil, spinach, broad beans, sweet peas, parsley & kale!

While I weeded this afternoon, Max dug for pirate treasure while asking me

:: how it is that the people living down the bottom of the Earth do not fall off
:: do pirates only live on boats & are there girl pirates
:: how can you become a king or queen
:: where else could he dig

and my surprise garden discovery :: crimson flowering broad beans

By the time I came in at sunset I felt renewed :: hallelujah

One year ago

2010-07-13T11:03:00.010+10:00

One year ago I was holding my new baby in my arms, back home after a whirlwind birth that very nearly happened in the front seat of our car.

One year on and I'm watching this same babe sitting up to the table with his brother & sister for afternoon tea or drawing sessions. Another person to consider when setting up activities for the day as he's no longer interested in that basket filled with baby toys (despite my encouragement to stay & be a baby just a little bit longer!) He wants to get in amongst the sibling play (specialising in deconstruction or just plain destruction)

A babe who had no choice but to always be in amongst the action;

A babe exposed to some serious sisterly loving;

A babe who's first summer was the best Tasmanian summer I've ever experienced;

A babe who inherited my uncanny knack of having his eyes closed in most photos;

A babe who has spent way too much time in the backpack

A babe who happily receives gifts from his siblings

A babe who thinks milk teeth are formed purely by waking & demanding to be feed all night long

and a babe who seems to venture off on his own more & more (who will remain my baby for a good while longer despite being constantly mistaken for a small boy these days)

Happy birthday Leo

the destroyer with the best giggle going around these parts

a little note to say I'm no longer doing The Market in August, thanks to everyone who said they would pop by to say hello.

Australia Post - more letterbox love

2010-07-07T11:10:00.006+10:00

Yet more recent deliveries...

This tea towel from the talented Tania over at Myrtle&Eunice who has a new shop here.

My photo was taken when I went to collect it from the line & realised this looked like Tania's photo. Of course when I downloaded it...it looks nothing like the original which is all shiny & ironed! My photo is fitting for a tea towel residing at our place though, given they are usually found in a soggy pile by the back door waiting to go to the laundry.

I also ordered some of her amazing cards, best seen in her shop, they will be perfect to have on hand for future birthdays (especially for the bug-loving smalls living in our house). This one is my favourite....

*Tania's photo

And then a bill arrived *sigh*

And then this fabric arrived (canceling out the bill effect!)

It's out drying on the washing line now, ready to be cut up tonight for some more dresses (similar to this one from a while back) for the upcoming market I'm ~~panicking about~~ busy making for.

Collar flipping tutorial

2010-07-05T10:26:00.009+10:00

This is less of a tutorial and more like an idea with a few pictures taken during the sewing process after a couple of folk requested it when I mentioned this collar-flipping malarkey a while back.

Op-shops are usually bursting with good quality business shirts with worn out collars. This is why there are a zillion tutorials out there for reusing business shirts. The fabric is often very good quality & the rest of the shirt is usually fine but the worn out collar makes them unsuitable for wearing to work anymore.

Affter discovering most of Tim's current work shirts are in the worn-out-collar category I realised I could probably extend the life of some of them by flipping the collars....a little light bulb moment*

*no doubt someone has thought of this before but it had never occurred to me.

So to start with you need to check if the collar is suitable for flipping
(the reverse needs to be the same as the front)

start by unpicking the collar
(use a sharp unpick, not that blunt old thing that came with your machine10 years ago)
I only unpicked as far as I needed to remove the collar

the worn out side!

this collar had a sewn in collar stiffener that I needed to remove as it was very obvious on the reverse side of the collar

so I pulled both of these plastic bits out of the collar

mark the centre of the collar & the shirt with pins (found by folding them in half)

straight pins are better for this bit!
You can see the old stitching marks are obvious, this is helpful when you reinsert the collar into the shirt as you simply match the stitching lines back up again

ready to sew

I made the stitch length shorter than normal as the original collar had very fine stitching. I simple stitched over the previous stitching marks. In reality this stitching line is hardly visible when the shirt is being worn but try your best to match the threads.

now steam, steam, steam the new side of the collar to remove all those wrinkles & marks where the collar stiffeners were(what are those things really called?)

And you have a shirt fit for another day of good rubbing against the stubble!

There is still the faint outline of the plastic bits in the photo below but these disappeared after the next wash & press!

Hope this prolongs a few more shirts before they end up in the scrap pile!

French goodness

2010-07-02T11:05:00.007+10:00

I love getting mail

*that's not a bill*

Perhaps it's to do with having something arrive from the outside world as we are not leaving our place on a daily basis at the moment. The smalls are more & more requesting to "just stay at home ALL DAY". This is particularly obvious towards the end of the week when everyone is a bit over the to-ing & fro-ing of grocery shopping, playgroups, 'school' (Max's pre-kinder sessions at the local community house), visiting & park outings. They just want to stay & play with their own things, dig around in the sandpit, stay in their PJ's & generally chill. It's a good thing really, just hard to juggle with my desire to get out & away from the mountain of washing in the laundry. Evidence of today's stay at home request......

I'm still a believer in leave-them-alone if they are leaving me alone

Anyhow I digress...

Last week a package arrived from good friends living overseas. It was good to hear of their latest adventures & see pics of their babe (growing up so fast on that Parisian spring atmosphere). The package was also bursting with these replacement rubber preserving rings for all the Le Parfait jars I have collected over the years.

I'm glad I'm not the only Hobartian providing safe haven for these fabulous old jars. The craft bits& bobs have been evicted from the jars with no seals...

& they are destined to join the rest of the jars....

So sending out a big thank you to Franki for hitting the cobblestones to find these for me.

* Someone did point out (with equal parts amazement & disbelief) that I had a personal-shopper in Paris & had only requested some rings for a load of old jars.

The smalls love the little mouse & have written little thank you notes. In case my slackness continues & I never actually post these to you, here they are....

teeth, tupperware, grandpa pants & winter fun

2010-06-30T22:25:00.010+10:00

I'm not sure why or how time seems to slip away so quickly after the winter solstice but I'm feeling the swoosh of Christmas just around the corner, all the while trying to slow.down.a.little.

In recent times there has been:

the growing(& growing) of teeth
accompanied by the requisite night-waking & occasional breast-biting

the discovery of the Tupperware cupboard

(even though nothing pictured is actually Tupperware because I have to keep the containers we actually use somewhere else to minimise the trip hazards & to keep them sort-of clean for use!)

the dinner-preparation wearing of tupperware-scattering-THIRTEEN KILO-baby to avoid further lid-skating/falling incidents

the daily Mobilo creations
a super-hero watch

the rubbish collection scene I found this morning

the collecting of Grandpa pants

for the making of boy pants
(a quick picture taken en route to the washing machine after a trial wearing)

and the collecting of oddments from the winter garden

all the while trying to get outside despite the winter weather as we plot grand interior design schemes for the cubby house

My Creative Space - that old familiar sound

2010-06-17T09:43:00.006+10:00

Growing up there was one sound regularly heard in the late hours after us kids were all in bed. It was the sound of my mother's Bernina as she sat sewing at the dining room table.

I can't remember a time when my Mum wasn't sewing or mending something. Despite having a sort of mezzanine/craft room up in the back shed - think farm shed - not of the Country Style variety - a real farm shed, the sort you build with your neighbours using timber from the farm.
To get to the' sewing room' you passed all the metal bins full of various animal feeds and then fought your way up the stairs (due to the various boxes containing sewing projects that overflowed from the room and cascaded down the staircase forcing your ever closer to the edge with no rails). Once you made it into the room you were surrounded by a WHOLE LOT OF FABRIC (it is hereditary you see) and a view over the chookruns/gardens beds. It was nearly always a total mess and I can see why Mum choose to set up at the dining room table.

All of these thoughts came back to me as I set up my Bernina at my dining room table to sew & mend last night. The sound it makes is so familiar to me & the stitching so simple & solid when compared to the new Janome I have been using of late. I automatically slip back into Bernina-mode, dropping all those quirky Janome habits that have snuck in (like pushing down instead of up for the reverse button).

I started with the mending pile......

Tim rolled his eyes & muttered something about patching clothes within an inch of their lives and the fact they cost next to nothing to buy new. He doe have a point about my ability to patch a patch rather than throw out clothing that is otherwise fine, super comfortable or a favourite. But the bit about new clothing being so cheap......don't even get me started on that one. Anyone who has ever sewn clothing knows that someone (think women in a sweatshop) somewhere (mostly China) is missing out so we can buy our cheap clothing. Anyhow before I go on, & on, & on....

Tim is of course happy to be on the receiving end of my mending-ways

fixing shabby China-sewn favourites (again! I'll have resewn every seam on these soon)

flipping the worn out collars on work shirts....

I then got started on some sewing for an upcoming market (my first in over a year). I've been wanting to make up a smock style tunic using a heavier linen/cotton fabric. There was much indecision regarding what binding to use

stripes

or spots

The spots were my preference but I needed a navy spot to match the navy linen, so I went for the candy cane option

I liked the result but for a market this style of binding takes too long so I'll have to come up with an alternative that is faster to make. By the time I was finished (I really, really dislike pinning & gathering) I was really actually ready for bed but decided to finish a couple of other bits off. The first I'm-too-tired-to-be-sewing-anymore warning was sewing the leg cuffs on inside out.

Convinced this was actually a brilliant modification & would be far more comfortable for baby to wear I pushed on for ONE-LAST-THING, at which point I overlocked into the strap of a dress. After much cursing & blaming of the overlocker I packed up & went to bed.

More creative spaces than you could ever imagine over at Kootoyoo. Take a packed lunch.

P.S. Mum, the reason I was set up on the dining room table was that I couldn't get to the other machine due to the MESS!

Good garden - bad garden

2010-06-16T11:40:00.001+10:00

good garden

BAD GARDEN

Saturday morning reading

2010-06-13T00:21:00.004+10:00

Having the paper delivered on the weekends is a great start to a lazy morning.

The local paper is divided up into various sections for various family members.

Until I met Tim I thought the car section was only provided to line the compost bucket, but he reads it. He really reads it, keeps it around & goes back to it even. Strange but true.

I usually head for the middle to read the gardening section over breakfast while listening to Peter Cundall on the radio. Lately though I've had some competition for the middle section.

Max has discovered the weekly bird column.

Now with his bird book ready we read about whatever adventures Don Knowler has been up to.

Imagine his excitement when this week featured a white-bellied sea eagle......an undeniable favourite, partly fueled by this video (which he seems to watch every few days). Max often asks if he can BE a white-bellied sea eagle one day?

Not to pretend, a real one. Hmmmm.

When I suggested he could one day write about birds he nodded, pointed at the photo of Don Knowler & declared "I'll need a blue shirt then".

Mojo arrives - Hallelujah

2010-06-09T15:06:00.009+10:00

back home

Although we flew back into Hobart a couple of weeks ago it seems that my mojo was left behind & only arrived a couple of days ago (I imagine it decided to hitchhike after missing the flight...typical)

The three weeks went by quite quickly (perhaps not for our hosts......thanks again m&d) in a whirl of catch-ups, cousins, lego, scooters, pawpaws, tarago-hire, BBQs and beach visits, flying fox-spotting (Max's new interest, right up there with birds)

We arrived to find winter had settled in while we were galavanting around in the relative warmth. The new heating is being installed at a snails pace & I'm looking forward to never again uttering "close the door"

While waiting for my mojo to return I've been

:: pulling out the woolens
:: trying to ignore the state of the house
:: lamenting the loss of all my bookmarks after Tim's computer tinkering while I was away (all those tutorials!!!!!)
:: making stocks & soups
:: watching mobilo creations come & go
:: buying tickets to see Leonard again (he's venturing further south this time around)
:: hanging out in the local library (searching for books on bats & birds mostly)

and the most important winter survival strategy I know of

:: getting out into the sun whenever it shines for picnics, walks, scooter rides or park visits

Heading north

2010-05-04T22:45:00.003+10:00

The small ones & I are heading off to the 'Mainland' tomorrow

:: the bags are packed

:: I think I've remembered everything

:: one tenth of the things I wanted to do before going got done

:: it's going to be warmer up there

:: I get to meet my new nephew

:: I get to off-load more baby gear

:: my sisters & I get to catch up amongst the cousin chaos (we all had babies last year)

:: Max is excited as he wants to see a volcano (I've been trying to explain it is an OLD volcano)

:: Addie wants to see Annie's mango tree

:: Leo will be happy as long as there is a sandpit or beach

:: I'm looking forward to some child-free moments

:: I'm hoping all goes well on the flight up as I'm seriously out-numbered!

:: 3 whole weeks

Friday op shop gold [of the Richard Scarry variety]

2010-04-30T16:37:00.007+10:00

There is a whole lot of Richard Scarry love in our house.

Max can spend oh-so-long (in boy-child terms) looking through a Richard Scarry book....they are big, they are detailed & they have all the things he loves in them. In return I get an oh-so-long (in I'm-going-batty-looking-after-these-kids terms) break.

So I was pretty excited to find these poking out of the local op shop bookshelf, the spines looking dull and rather faded.....

Three Richard Scarry tomes.....

They are older than the other Scarry books we own and the illustrations while still very Scarry-esque are slightly softer & simpler and there are even some people, here's a few of my favourite pages

& some of Max's favourite sections.....

Finding these reminded me I need to finish mending this giant pop-up book, found an age ago at the very same op shop.....

Now to go & sweep up those crumbs (in the photo above) spilling out of Max's bag, which surely hasn't been on the floor since he got home from 'school' yesterday?

Swap goodness

2010-04-28T22:23:00.004+10:00

When Kate proposed a pin cushion swap I jumped on board, full of enthusiasm to get this swap sent off on-time, thoughtfully wrapped & did I mention on-time.

After a few false starts I just had to put it aside.

Then one day a package arrived on the doorstep.

It contained a perfect little pincushion. It is perfectly balanced, hand sewn with beautiful wool felt, and it fits perfectly on the wee little space next to my overlocker (serger).

But that's not all...there was also this....

I was stunned. Here was someone who made beautiful gifts AND sent them early!

I'm was in awe. Kristi creates so many gorgeous things that you should pop over & explore.

I was totally in a flap after that & everything I started making was cast aside while I looked hopefully to my new strawberry pincushion for inspiration. Finally on the evening I was supposed to have sent my pincushion I got it finished!

Apologies to Cathie for my rather late pincushion arrival And thanks to Kate for organising it all.

Creative Space - A crown

2010-04-22T09:54:00.003+10:00

In a rash of felt sewing I finally pulled out this crown started quite.some.time.ago for Adelaide

Then I realised the felt matched my new swap pincushion (this needs it's own post)

Just a few more ends to tie off & it will be done.......a simple project that I know will be well worn like the one made for her brother.

Made using beautiful 100% wool felt, locally available from here.

I'm on a roll after finishing these crowns yesterday for one of Max's friends who came over to play (a very belated birthday gift). She was much more impressed with Bunny's crown than her own.

More creative folk over yonder

Back in the saddle (sort of)

2010-04-21T00:32:00.010+10:00

If I had an ounce more energy I could (possibly) write a better post-holiday-post but I really DON'T HAVE ANY EXTRA ENERGY.

Our time away was great.......mostly just getting to share the kid-wrangling duties and being away from home, where there are always a million things that need doing.

We stayed at a shack not far from the beach.....

a shack with a candelabra that was the source of much excitement

& 6 steamer pots (but only 2 saucepans?) that were perfect for band practice
(especially with the record collection on hand)

we made walnut boats

and abandoned them to the elements....

we visited old convict ruins where Max acted the tour guide, showing me the really dark bedrooms (isolation cells that are really freaky to stand in even for a minute)

went to the beach.......it wasn't really that cold, she does love that suit though

tried fishing (without the fish part)

we climbed giant sand dunes

looked out

& then slid down them

or overjoyed with the whole sand experience, dived in face first!

*yawn*
*goodnight*

Autumn 2010

2010-04-11T21:13:00.006+10:00

Suddenly it feels like Autumn......

From the top:

A delivery from the neighbours......quinces & pears (plus some quince jelly)

Locally grown chestnuts & hazelnuts

Some crabapples collected on a recent walk to the park

Newly discovered HOLES in one of my favourite woolens!

We're off for a for a trip down the peninsula (is there anything not in Wikipedia?) for the week. I've packed such an eclectic mix, because who knows what the weather will be like....it is Tasmania after all. I'm looking forward to some reading, exploring, walking, hanging out and eating freshly caught abalone & calamari. I've also packed a few sewing patterns & fabric as I'd like to get some cutting out done (I try to think optimistically). Max is excited about going fishing & wants to catch a shark.....with Tim diving for abalone I prefer not to even THINK of sharks!

Garlic planting

2010-04-08T08:26:00.006+10:00

We try to avoid the rampant consumer aspects of modern holidays/celebrations, like Easter. I know that small folk get excited about chocolate Easter eggs, but really my lot get excited about going for a ride on their bikes or having their Dad home for 4 whole days so I see little point in buying into the Easter shopping-frenzy. Of course it is hard to avoid in many ways as society is so geared up for the consumer aspects of Easter (& Christmas) that it is always seems to be the main focus........."how many Easter eggs did you get?"......... "what did Santa bring you?"

I'm not totally bah-humbug about presents and Easter eggs I just feel a bit sickened by the "WHAT'S IN IT FOR ME, ME, ME??" attitude that children can develop from the focus always being on the things they receive. I know as they grow older the focus on 'the gifts' intensifies but I'm hoping that by not nurturing a focus on 'things I get' early on it may carry through for many years to come (I know I'll probably look back and laugh at that in years to come.....but I really hope not!)

So the only chocolate eggs this Easter were the 4 baby choc eggs Max brought home from 'preschool'. Cheap nasty things that were shared around and eaten with minimal fanfare. We painted some eggs and dyed a few more but even most of the Easter craft activities seem to be very spring orientated (which would be fine if we lived in the Northern hemispere). So in a quest to find an activity to include in 'our Easter celebrations' that was relevant to where we live and how we live I started planting the garlic.

Garlic planting is perfect for willing little helpers as the cloves are easily handled and there is little to go wrong. I lay the cloves out where I would approximately like them to be buried and the smalls follow behind to bury them where they would approximately like them to be buried.

And of course there was the much anticipated Gruffalo viewing which was greeted with wide-eyed wonder and an overflowing bowl of fresh popcorn......perfect....if only I had thought to get a blank video........if they still make them?

Gruffalo fever

2010-04-01T21:50:00.004+11:00

3 more sleeps

there is much excitement in the house

many letters have been addressed to the "deep dark wood"

and the dress-ups........there have been mighty fine dress-ups!

Creative Space - refashion

2010-03-25T10:32:00.008+11:00

It's been a while since I started & finished a project in a single day. This has mostly been due to a long spell of broken sleep (thanks to some oh-so-slow to appear 2 year molars). It was nice to not get half way through something & then have to balance it on the unfinished projects pile!

Last week Adelaide spotted this singlet at the op shop and asked if I could make a stripey dress for her baby-doll. I gave her the $1 to pay for it as she likes to collect receipts. It was not until we got home I realised the potential of this rather ordinary singlet. It is 100% cotton knit.

I started by snipping a hole in the neckband & threading some elastic around to draw it in.

Then I stitched & cut the sides down like so....

A quick dress that I was pretty pleased with until Addie tried it on to promptly declare "it's got no pockets!" Hmmm, such gratitude.

The reality is though that every outfit has to have at least one pocket to be deemed acceptable. And given all the smalls have a runny nose at the moment (the runny nose that just keeps on giving!) pockets are very handy for storing the hankies in. Then I realised the pieces I had cut off could be used to make some pockets, so I cut them like so:

And stitched them onto the front after a bit of unpicking along the side seams.

I now have a very satisfied little one who keeps muttering "thanks for those pockets"

Now to go and tackle something from the towering unfinished projects pile

or perhaps I'll just grab a cup of tea & check out what others are up to over at kootoyoo.....

Stuck in reverse

2010-03-23T16:29:00.004+11:00

It's all fun & games around here until somebody hits a wall (literally & metaphorically)

Creative Space - lingerie for the crisper

2010-03-18T11:13:00.006+11:00

Making some produce bags has been on my TO DO list for a long time now. Reminders kept popping up around the blogosphere and slowly but surely I got my act together and sat down one night to sew three of these up to trial.

I ended up using some natural lightweight silk fabric as I knew I needed to be able to see through the bags to make it easy to find what I was looking for in the fridge (and hopefully avoid a bag of long-forgotten, now-unidentifiable, slowly-decaying produce at the back of the crisper)

Because the silk is so light weight it doesn't add anything extra to the weigh-in at the checkout and the checkout bloke can easily see what is in the bag. It also has meant that all those things I never bothered putting in a plastic bag no longer get constantly handled by aforementioned checkout bloke or stray children that end up in the trolley. Green leafy things obviously do not store as well in these bags but things like green beans last much longer and do not sweat like they do in plastic.

I had the silk in my fabric stash so I'm not sure how much these would cost to make. I had originally thought I'd just use an old sheer curtain but now I'm really glad I used the silk as they not only work really well but and have been a hit with the silkworm breeder who has enjoyed seeing what a worm can create.

Plus they feel amazing.

So that's my quick sewing job today, cutting out more produce bags because I've started to use they for all sorts of things, although I did draw the line at them being used for carting around matchbox cars.

More creative spaces here.

Four

2010-03-17T22:10:00.008+11:00

So much has changed since this little boy came into our lives four years ago.

I can hardly remember the life I had before having children, it feels so distant at times. I do recall that it involved a lot more sleep and time to myself. I laugh now when I hear people say things like "having kids won't change me or my lifestyle". I'm afraid there is something very wrong if your life doesn't change after having children, unless perhaps your pre-kids lifestyle involved being woken up all the time, having someone accompany you to the toilet (or at least try their darnedest to), constant mess and incessant chatter about rocketships, how to put out a fire on the moon, birds, diggers, cranes, the moon, how to make water, how great mobilo is, giant trees and silkworm eggs (to name a few topics from today's conversations)

But here we are

four years on

FOUR years

I'd say it goes by all so fast

except everyone always says"'it goes by so fast"

(probably because it actually does go by so fast)

except each day, they don't always seem to go by so fast

the truth is the days are long but the years are short

So here is Max yesterday, all grins after blowing out the candles on his 3rd cake for the day....

And being four means you get 4 cakes right?

Or so he seems to believe.

Last year he requested a pear cake for his party.

This year he's asked for a solar system cake. Yikes!

I blame all this talk of having now been around the sun four times

and this....

as well as this rather presumptuously named tome.....

I'm off to work out how I can make a cake solar system. Did I mention the request also specified an icecream cake as well as including "a rocketship on it's way to the moon"

hmmmmmmmm!

Creative Space - Smalls for the smalls

2010-03-09T16:58:00.009+11:00

I bought this pattern late last year but was wondering if I'd ever get around to using it. I'd made some undies for Max a while ago & they were a hit with him but they are also super cheap to buy and I have limited sewing time. Despite all that I've been wanting to make the smalls there own undies just because. No merchandising on the front (although Addie does love her wiggles jocks) and made from 'recycled fabric'. So this week I pulled out some of those cotton knit t-shirts that I find in the 50c bin at the op shop and the kids picked out the ones they wanted to use....
the first ones were pretty much made to the pattern (except I didn't bother to top-stitch)
This is a great pattern (lots of photos and instructions if you haven't sewn much) and the style really lends itself to using scrap/recycled fabrics & mixing up colours/prints. To make up a bunch I wanted a slightly faster sew-up so I dropped the bands of cotton/lycra around the legs & waist and instead used fold-over elastic - that stuff is magic! This made the sewing faster and I think they look just as good (and if you don't have an overlocker/serger they make a much neater finish). The smalls were smitten with their new undies and despite Adelaide's trial pair being a bit small she insisted on wearing them 2 days in a row.
After all that I was feeling inspired to try making some for the rest of the household. I cut out some mens undies using an old Kwiksew pattern a few years ago but they were so MASSIVE I didn't bother finishing them. I set out to find a different men's underwear pattern on Pattern Review. This lead me to a review on PR by Peter. That then lead me on to his blog and in particular this post. What can I say........ he sews, he uses vintage patterns and he owns 9 vintage sewing machines!

Check out Peter's blog or head over to Kirsty's for more creative spaces.

Hiking

2010-03-09T16:44:00.004+11:00

This was their first overnight hiking/camping trip. Max carried the tent the whole way in, Adelaide nearly made it all the way with her borrowed backpack. Everyone was in bed by 7:30 and Tim had to rouse them at 7:30 the next morning. The walk out was apparently much slower (being uphill) and required much more ~~bribery~~ encouragement/carrying.

I reckon 2km counts as a hike when your legs are little!

Hanging out

2010-03-06T21:32:00.001+11:00

Tim has headed up the mountain camping overnight with the kids (a last minute decision) so I've had the afternoon to hang out with Leo. The poor wee fella has a runny nose and wants only to be held close and given free access to the milk bar whilst bluntly refusing any offered solids.

*sigh*

He did enjoy listening to music jiving around in the jolly jumper for a while......

.............followed by a bath in the laundry tub - don't let that smile fool you, there has been much mooching, snot rubbing and ergo action.

At least that's my excuse for not getting around to cleaning the kitchen, I probably should hide the cake I made though (it did however use up one-thirtieth of the giant zucchinis).