from little things ...

today

2011-11-10T11:16:00.002+11:00

... I have a date with the quick unpick and the couch in an attempt to salvage my first attempt at the Yard Sale skirt from Weekend Sewing*. If the weather continues on the way it's been in Sydney for the last few days (read: HOT), then I'm going to need lots of loose, floaty clothes STAT!

What are you up to?

*To save you from the same tears and tantrums that I've been having should you attempt this skirt, can I suggest you click over to the errata?

a fête accompli

2011-11-06T14:20:00.002+11:00

Picture this: you're in the midst of the busiest time of the day (school pick up), at the busiest time of your life (baby number three only a few months old), when you get a note home from school about the annual school fete.

On that note is a list of all the usual stalls and the people who have volunteered to co ordinate that stall. You scan down the list and see the following;

"CRAFT - ????"

Hmmm. Your mind starts to wonder, "I could do that couldn't I?"

STOP RIGHT THERE. Can I suggest that if you ever do find yourself in that situation that the answer to this question should be a very loud, very definite "NO!". In fact, why the hell would you even ask yourself that question?!

Unless of course you're me. Which means you're notorious for thinking, "How hard could it be?", committing yourself and then a few weeks down the track having that sickening realisation (usually in the middle of the night), of what this really will involve.

I'll spare you the details of the emails, tweets, phone calls, and meetings I made/had where I begged for and borrowed supplies and helpers, and just show you a few of the bits and pieces that were made and finally sold at the school fete yesterday. This being a relatively crafty orientated blog and all.

In all we ended up with 631 items to sell (not including a vast number of things that were thrust upon our tiny stall yesterday just as the fete started up) and raised over $3000 for our small school.

Not bad.

Oh and that baby I had?

Is now FIVE months old. I'd ask where that time went but I'm pretty sure I already know!

how to make an A-line skirt ... with a newborn baby

2011-07-21T11:43:00.000+10:00

Five weeks post this little dude I found myself in a bit of a conundrum: none of my regular clothes would fit (of COURSE though I stupidly tried them on just to check), and all of my maternity clothes were too baggy except for my jeans, which quite frankly, I'm sick of.

Looked as though it was time for me to finally confront my two all-time sewing fears: drafting a pattern for an A-line skirt from my actual measurements AND inserting a ZIPPER!

Sewing it went a little something like this:

Day One: Take measurements and draw up a vaguely A-line looking pattern on paper. Whoops, baby awake.

Day Two: Cut out pattern. Whoops, baby awake.

Day Three: Look for zipper insertion tutorials. Sew side seam. Whoops, baby awake.

Day Four: Follow zipper tutorial. Works! Awesome. Wonder why the baby isn't awake. Push on and attach waistband. Whoops, baby awake.

And that's about where I stopped.

Here's the finished result

Yeah it's a bit wonky in parts. The waistband isn't quite finished and none of the seams have been finished off, such was my desperation to just WEAR IT (and such was the desperation of those around me no doubt to actually take off and wash my maternity jeans). BUT it fits! And did I mention it has a ZIPPER? It does!

Now to make another. If only that baby would sleep for longer than twenty minutes ...

An abundance of creative spaces here.

Excellent zipper tutorial here. Be prepared it's fast. I needed to watch it about five times before it sunk in but it's a ripper.

p.s. I've been totally CRAP at responding to comments lately ... hmmm I wonder why ... but I whole heartedly appreciate every one. I'll get better at responding. I will.

boy/s on film

2011-07-03T16:26:00.000+10:00

Man it's hard to get a good shot of a newborn baby. Especially when said baby is born during a week long downpour. In winter. Leading to pretty poor light conditions. Add to that baby's compulsion to wee or poo all over the preferred outfit seconds before the photo shoot was to begin. Sigh. Then enter the addition of a big brother who can't understand why you'd like him to be absent for the shot*.

I think we got there in the end.

* since the photo was to be used as a birth announcement/thank you card and all.

a problem with monogamy

2011-06-23T13:43:00.000+10:00

... of the knitty variety that is. Either I have to commit to one project or ...

... I need to make myself a bigger knitting bag.

On the sticks at the moment we have a cherry red Milo vest for Leo

the Striped Cotton Cowl for moi

and the super easy baby blanket which was given to me by my bestie Antonia as a most excellent baby gift.

And then last night Luca said, "Mummy you have a scarf and I don't and that's not fair". Ouch. Far be it from me to leave the poor middle child's neck all naked! Looks like project number four will be cast on imminently.

For more creative spaces head over here.

p.s A massive THANK YOU for all the beautiful comments on the arrival of our Leo. He is two weeks old today and apart from having a cold (a gift from his brother and sister), he is doing very well indeed.

leo

2011-06-14T21:09:00.000+10:00

... decided to make his entry into the world last Thursday afternoon thankfully weighing a full kilo less than his older brother.

He's a hungry little fellow though and so the last few days have mainly seen me camping out on the couch using every cushion and pillow in the house in some effort to get comfortable.

But we're all good and so very glad he's here ... finally!

ready

2011-06-06T10:54:00.000+10:00

From the looks of this tummy (photo taken last week I might add) ...

... you'd have to think this baby is not far away right?

In the meantime there has been much crazed nesting involving moving large pieces of furniture, vacuuming in strange places, washing and folding all those teeny tiny clothes ...

... and a bit of decorating with a beautiful doll quilt I received from Lorraine in the Down Under Doll Quilt Swap.

Also this weekend while packing up the fabric scraps left over from the Grellow Quilt I figured I might as well whip up a cushion cover. As you do.

And now I wonder if since all this is done, this little fellow might decide to make his entry into the world. Soon.

my creative space : another week, another quilt

2011-05-26T11:08:00.001+10:00

With each passing week towards the birth of this baby another "must have that done" gets checked off the mental "to do" list (mental, because I never actually write these lists and mental because there is no way in the world all of this stuff swirling around in my brain will ever actually get done).

Last night it was the final stitches on the binding for the Grellow Baby Quilt (top shown here).

This one has been waiting for the quilting bit for some time. I always figured I'd manage to do it on my machine but two lines in it was quite clear that no amount of careful basting was going to stop the puckering, perhaps due to the choice of a quite lofty wool batting left over from another quilt. So I cut my losses and sent off a late night text to my sanity saver, Suzanne who, in her usual style had it done and dusted in a few days.

So glad I did.

The quilt features many an Aussie designer, most notably the awesome grey and white linens from Aunty Cookie as well as some of her "Paper Cuts" I bought as remnants a few years ago (which, I think is in fact my favourite fabric in the whole quilt), as well as some Pippijoe and some yellow dots from Sarah Fielke's "From Little Things" range (how cool is that fabric label name?! Only fitting some should find it's way into this quilt).

So then, on to the next thing on my list ...

For lots more creative spaces pop on over here.

p.s A small quilt I made for the one and only Nova as part of the Down Under Doll Quilt Swap found it's way to her this week. In true, "I-don't-keep-a-list" style I forgot to take photos of it. Luckily she did and you can see it here. I followed the excellent "Non-pattern Pattern" tutorial detailed by The Silly Boodilly and had a ball doing it.

my creative space :: a long awaited birthday quilt

2011-05-19T11:44:00.000+10:00

A long long time ago a pink quilt was begun for a then just five-year old, pink-obsessed girl.

For some reason that seemed to make perfect sense to the mother of said pink-obsessed five-year old girl at the time, the decision was made to hand quilt this KING single sized quilt.

And so almost a year later the quilt was finally finished just hours before the pink-bordering-on-purple-obsessed five-year old girl turned six, and was placed on her sleeping self to find in the
morning.

And then it was forgotten when the pink (and purple) cupcakes appeared.

For more creative spaces zip on over here. You'll be so glad you did!

the countdown begins and other excellent stuff

2011-05-04T11:02:00.001+10:00

So here we are, my little traveller and I with five weeks to go

Except that I'm pretending it's seven weeks so as not to be too stressed out when I inevitably wind up being overdue.

This past week has seen us with an urgent need to move large pieces of furniture (with assistance I promise), looking for paint colours to paint something bright yellow, planning a very excited soon-to-be-six year old's party, figuring out how to fit three car seats into the car AND the arrival of two amazing handmade gifts.

Firstly a pair of the comfiest pj pants (but I prefer to call them lounge pants. That way I reckon I get away with wearing them at any hour of the day), from my old high school friend Mel. Considering I failed to make myself a pair that fit and I have my body close at hand for measurements and such, I am astounded that Mel was able to make these having only my expanding waist measurement and that they fit sooo well! Sure to be sported a LOT during the coming months. In fact, it's amazing I was able to photograph them off quite frankly. Mel, you are a godsend!

And secondly this gorgeous little parcel arrived

This is apparently "hastily wrapped". Um, way better than the plastic bag I probably would have flung it in to at a moments notice. Inside the gorgeous Pebble Vest from that most awesome of crafty ladies, Tania.

I have to admit the sheer tiny-ness of this held in my hands had me welling up a bit imagining the little person that will soon fill it out. Tania, you are amazing. But we all know that right? Right.

my creative space :: for my boys

2011-04-28T10:55:00.000+10:00

Hi! How are you? I hope you had a great Easter break however you spent and celebrated it. Since my last post I've had a birthday and we've all been on a little trip north to catch one last "family of four" holiday before the newest little bloke arrives.

Also during this time a quilt was finished

with a special little dedication added for one of my little fellow's

And whilst a bit of this was going on

and I had view like this

I finally FINALLY finished the all-consuming BSJ (Baby Surprise Jacket) first cast on way back here and twice frogged.

This teeny tiny little number gives no hint of it's trickiness. I'm not sure if it works for you or against you being a beginner knitter attempting this jacket. On the one hand it's great not having any pre-conceived "rules" for how something like this should be knit up because it literally looks like something someone ran over until it's off the sticks. On the other hand there were so many knitting conventions and terms which it seemed were assumed knowledge that I found myself quite lost on many occasions.

Enter the lovely Suzy and her VERY patient advice in person, via text, email AND twitter and in the end I muddled my way through. So many versions of this jacket have been Raved (mine here) but the one that first got my attention was Suzy's version for her then new baby girl. I'm certainly hoping my new little fellow can wear this on his way home from hospital in the same way.

For more post holiday creative spaces head over to Kirsty's place.

32+ weeks

2011-04-14T20:06:00.000+10:00

Oh the poor 'ol blog has been sadly neglected of late. Instead of blogging I've been choosing to put my feet up and out and catch a few zzzz's.

And here's why ...

Those of you who follow my nattering away on Twitter would be well versed in what this little fellow has been up to lately. Namely, laying sideways and totally freaking me out that he is not going to move. Thanks to google I've been trying all sorts of kooky things to get him to turn around, most notably laying semi upside down on an ironing board that was propped up against the couch.

Anyhow according to my Dr he appears to have his head down south today so here's hoping he likes the view and stays that way.

And speaking of my little creation look what arrived for him in my letterbox last week

One of Kate's famous crochet cardi's this one featuring super squidgy delicious charcoal yarn and gorgeous orange Liberty covered buttons. You can see a better, less rushed photo on Kate's site. I'm completely blown away that someone I've met only a handful of times in the flesh would go to so much effort to make something so gobsmackingly beautiful for this little person of ours and I'm grateful beyond belief.

Thank you Kate!

hanger challenge

2011-04-05T16:10:00.000+10:00

What better way to while away the seemingly endless H-O-U-R-S associated with a move back (or forward?), from daylight savings time, combined with a sick child home from school AND a rainy day to boot, than to put on a pot of chicken soup, sit on the couch and pimp a wire coat hanger.

Yep the challenge set down by Kirsty this morning could not have come on a better day. And seen as how these wire monstrosities appear to breed in my cupboard (in much the same way as green bags do in the boot of my car), I may just need to make a few more. This one was just some scraps of a seasonal print of Liberty I had leftover from a pair of pj pants I attempted to make yesterday. The pants are unfortunately a little on the snug side but hey, at least they produced some nice scraps for my hanger.

Thanks for the welcome distraction from my to-do list today Kirsty!

my creative space - progress report

2011-03-31T16:30:00.000+11:00

It's been a quilty kinda day here today. Quite fitting really given the weather is finally starting to feel slightly cooler.

So you might remember this pile from last week's creative space? Well here it is a week later

I'm not sure if it's finished yet and since I don't have a cot set up I have no idea if the size is right or not. I have had moments of sheer joy piecing this in it's haphazard, 'a-little-bit-of-this-a-little-bit-of-that' way. And then at other moments I have been so stumped by indecision about what should come next that I was wishing for a pattern.

BUT I figure I must be on the right track since the Mr's response was along the lines of, "Wow. You should make it bigger because I really like this one". Not entirely sure if that was meant to be a reflection of all my previous quilts or not ....

Speaking of which this one was picked up from the long arm quilter, Suzanne (you may remember her handy work from such quilts as this) today.

Just a sneaky peek for now. The final reveal will happen once the binding is on. So don't hold your breath or anything.

For more creative spaces head on over to Kirsty's place.

my creative space

2011-03-24T11:40:00.002+11:00

"... at the end of the day, it's only a quilt".

I have had these words ringing in my ears since I read them on Monday on Kate's excellent blog series detailing her process of making a quilt. And with this as my mantra I am making a solemn vow to slice and dice (in a Kate like fashion*) into this ever growing pile of loveliness

I've been amassing this lot for a few months now and even though I was given this amazing quilt featuring my latest colour combination obsession I still have a unstructured, choppy, piece-y quilt in mind to make before this new little person of ours arrives. I think it's taken me this long because I've been too scared to forge ahead and just have a crack. Well enough of that. Time to start chopping and sewing. After all, (say it with me), "it's only a quilt"!

EXCEPT of course when you walk out of your front door on the way to school, only to find a massive parcel stuffed in your letterbox and the return address is listed as this person, at which point you tear open the parcel (even though you're running late for said school pick up) ...

... and pretty much faint on the spot at what you find in your hands

In this case, I promise you, it's not just a quilt. It's a very, very thoughtful, gorgeous piece of art from a truly amazing, generous and talented woman! Thank you Rita, so much. You have no idea how much this will be treasured.

For more creative spaces click on over to Kirsty's.

* minus the slicing and dicing of fingers!

29 weeks and counting ...

2011-03-22T13:13:00.000+11:00

The blogging mojo seems to have exited stage right around these parts. I love it when I read blogs that have seemingly ordinary day-to-day stories (I'm a bit of a voyeur like that), but lately mine have seemed way too ordinary, you know?

And then I remembered something that is so ordinary it's extraordinary ... I am cooking up a human.

Yeah I know tonnes of us have done it and done it a few times over but it is pretty cool isn't it? There's a person in there. Sure there's the three toilet trips a night, the varicose veins the ridiculously enormous bosoms that now appear to rest on the belly (cleverly edited out of the photo), the extraordinary tiredness coupled weirdly with insomnia, the low blood pressure and iron levels ... mmmm good times. But then every now and then I remember that this will be the last time I do this and of course how much I wanted to get to this stage last time and then suddenly this little guys cartwheels and elbows (or knees?) poking out aren't such a pain. Sort of.

my creative space :: crafty friends

2011-03-10T18:20:00.000+11:00

I was going to tell you a tale of knitting woe* for today's creative space but then I went to my craft room meet up last night and was caught completely unawares by some surprise, handmade and of course gob-smackingly stunning baby gifts. And so of course I have to do a little show and tell.

First we have a so-cute-I-can-barely-stand-it little elf hat from Jen

I wish I could describe the silky softness of this hat. The only thing I can think of that's softer is an actual baby's head!

Next there was this awesome pillow from my long-time friend and all round crafty genius Sally

It'll be interesting to see if the new bub even gets to clap eyes on this considering Luca has taken quite a shine to it. And who could blame him?!

Next there was this gorgeous, gorgeous kimono style top from Suzy

Basically I can't stop looking at this. The colours are right up my alley and the softness of the Liberty fabric is so perfect for a item of baby clothing. I was instantly able to visualise my new little dude in this very cool shirt!

And then there was this from Alison

Yep that there is a quilt folks. She made me (well, the baby I guess), a quilt. And in my newest favourite colour combinations too - a bit of yellow and lots of grey. I was speechless.**

But wait did you see this bit

Good lord. Is there anything this talented lady cannot do? I think not! My only hope is that this baby is not a vomiter. Because if he is there is no way in hell he is going anywhere near this quilt! For a much better photo and more details take a look here.

Pretty good huh? It's great to have crafty mates that's all I can say!

Oh and by the way you may be wondering why so early on these offerings? Well it seems there was some mix up about my due date with the general consensus being I was due next month. An easy mistake to make considering how H-U-G-E I am!!

For more inspiring crafty folk pop on over to Kirsty's.

* I am on my THIRD and FINAL attempt at the BSJ. Stay tuned.
** Actually that's not true. I'm pretty much never rendered speechless though I was very overwhelmed with joy. Which probably actually made me chattier.

my creative space :: that'll do

2011-03-03T21:47:00.001+11:00

A long long time ago the Mr was throwing out a stack of old business and casual shirts and having just read Handmade Home I came over all "nothing must be wasted" and screamed at him to, "stop right there and give me those perfectly good shirts which could be made into ... something".

So they sat and they sat until I had the brainwave to chop them up and make them into a quilt for Luca. I thought big squares, quite simple, piece of cake it'll be whipped up in no time.

In the meantime some further inspiration popped up when Kate made a lovely lap quilt for her little bloke.

But still my shirts waited ... and waited until finally recently in a few marathon sewing sessions the top was done

In the end I also included a beige hail-spot shirt of mine which I could never quite part with but that made me look like I was in need of immediate hospitalisation which I think has given it a bit of a break from all the blue.

And finally, with a bit of support via twitter, I got up the guts to chop in to one very special shirt ...

... one that the Mr wore on our first date ... almost (gulp) twenty years ago.

Now to back it and quilt it.

For more creative spaces you just know Kirsty's got the goods.

the day after the day before

2011-02-28T20:15:00.002+11:00

It was a whirlwind of flowers, silk, little shoes and frilly socks, hairspray and non-spilly snacks

But we finally made it to the long awaited "flower girl day"

Oh and handsome brother-of-flower-girl day. Such a late night was had (there was a LOT of tables to hide under with equally excited cousins, not to mention an inviting shiny, slid-y dance floor), that today was all about skipping school and recovering.

For moi

and for them

Here's hoping your Monday was just as s-l-o-w!

p.s I've been asked for a progress shot of the bump and seen as how I'm not often scrubbed up I've put one here.

my creative space :: deadlines

2011-02-24T17:41:00.000+11:00

I've been feeling the pressure to get a few crafty bits and pieces done and dusted. Could it be early nesting has begun to snuck in? Or perhaps it's just that I'm itching to get started on a new project ... or two.

First of all on today's agenda was fiddling around getting some packaging ready

to send off a parcel of goodies I made as part of the Spicing Up the Kitchen flickr swap. My offering consists of a full length apron, some pot holders and a couple of extra goodies to sweeten the deal.

Then it was on to finishing off a quilt for Luca that has been in the pipeline for MONTHS

only to realise upon laying it on his bed that it really could do with another row. I hate those moments when you realise something isn't quite done and the little fight between good crafter and, "that'll do" crafter begins.

Think I'll sleep on it!

Or I might head on over to Kirsty's and be inspired by some very good crafters.

big love

2011-02-17T11:21:00.001+11:00

So this is one of those posts where I play catch up and try to combine the three posts I've been writing in my head over the past week into one post. Ok then? Here we go ...

Firstly a little Valentine's Day gift to Sienna's new favourite person

Inspired by her own heart which has been (surprisingly), still carted off to school every day and occasionally loaned to sad friends who, "don't have a heart".

Secondly my first and certainly not last Milo has been cast off and sent off to the bestie and her new babe.

Knitted up in gorgeous Spud and Chloe Sweater Wool bought on my travels to Purl Soho last year, this one was a collaboration from the explanation of "Kfab" at craft camp (thanks Kirsten), my first cabling (thanks Alison) and the final rows at craft night last week (thanks again Alison and Suzy). Due to some technical difficulties (?) this was meant to be the six month size but will probably eventually fit the little dude when he's two. More Milo details here.

Also off the sticks (to make way for Milo mark #2), is my second version of this little number cast on when Ms Pink decided her new favourite colour was purple (details on Ravelry)

Again due to technical difficulties (?) I somehow went from stocking stitch to garter after the sleeve making. By the time I realised what was happening it was too late to turn back so I decided to embrace the wonk and push on.

And finally (still there?) I am doing something so far out of the ordinary for me ...

... checking my gauge. Again and again this gorgeous yarn has been cast on, knit up, measured, only to be frogged and begun again. But I'm determined to get this one right for the little fellow I'm cooking up.

Phew! All done.

For more, probably far less long winded creative spaces hop on over to Kirsty's new digs.

pimping the plain white T

2011-02-06T20:57:00.000+11:00

On Friday I yet again found myself with a looming (read: 24 hours), two-year old's birthday.

Little Banjo was on the receiving end of one of my favourite softies ever this time last year, and seen as how he has one crafty mumma I figured I had better come up with something good ... but fast.

Enter the humble plain white t-shirt and some scraps

a bit of shadow tracing before school pick-up

a bit of ironing and cutting post afternoon tea

a bit of stitching in between various parts of Friday night's dinner making

and finally a bit of zig zagging around the edges while the kids were in the bath and voila, a personalised t-shirt!

I think it helps the overall effect if you have a name with street cred like 'Banjo' don't you?

Oh and with the few extra scraps and a little help from the aerodynamic tongue we had ourselves a birthday card for the little dude too.

Happy Birthday Banjo!

my creative space :: whole Lotta love

2011-02-03T13:32:00.000+11:00

Finally, finally having ordered this book in early December I arrived home yesterday afternoon to find it wedged between by front and screen doors

*sigh*

If I could suddenly become someone else overnight I would want to be Lotta Jansdotter. She ticks all my boxes:

lives in New York - check
is Scandinavian - check
has a cool haircut - check
is talented beyond belief - check check

For now I shall have to console myself with soaking up her life through the gorgeous images in this book, inspiring me to re-look at my fridge door

my bedroom (featuring my latest colour obsession: yellow and grey)

and suddenly making me completely re-think all the knick knacks in my kitchen drawers

Egg slicer anyone?

And then I might just do some more drooling over the images of Lotta's enviable work space

double *sigh*.

For an extensive list of people who are probably actually making stuff in their creative spaces instead of drooling head on over to Kirsty's place.

my square peg

2011-02-01T14:15:00.000+11:00

Well, it seems one minute you're wearing your undies on your head

and then you blink and find yourself all trussed up in a uniform sitting in a kindergarten room

Mind you I feel fairly confident the kookiness that is you will continue

p.s I arrived today to pick Sienna up after her first half day to find her clutching her heart. Yeah. Very glad I made that.

my heart on legs

2011-01-30T16:40:00.001+11:00

When Sienna was a baby (seemingly 5 minutes ago), someone once referred to her as, "your heart on legs".

Fast forward five and a half years and that heart on legs is about to head off to her first day of school.

I've found myself feeling quite a bit more emotional about this event than I thought I'd be and so last night after I'd finished labelling pencils and glue sticks (and shedding a tear or two), I had the thought to make her a little something to carry with her on her first day.

A little something that is soft and squidgy to put in her pocket. Just small enough to be able to dip her hand in and give it a little squeeze should she feel the need. *

Now to perhaps make one for myself ...

* Clearly this heart does not have "legs" as such. I did make some but they were kind of weird and got in the way of zippers and things.

my creative space :: the guilt quilt

2011-01-27T19:17:00.003+11:00

So a few weeks ago I popped on to Rita's site and was met with an image of the most gorgeous pram sized quilt in her etsy shop sidebar.

And it was on sale. And I had a friend due for a baby at any moment. And it was a Red Pepper quilt (did I mention that already?).

It took me all of two seconds to press purchase and within two days I had the gorgeousness in my hot little hands.

*Sigh*

Gorgeous blues and browns all set off beautifully with some ash and of course, Rita's flawless quilting.

Well in the two days it took to get to me we had found out we were expecting a little fellow (as was the friend expecting the baby any day). And whilst I think this quilt could be used for either gender, once I had it in my hands I couldn't help but picture my own little guy snuggled beneath it. Enter the guilt.

Um. What to do really but keep the Rita quilt and perhaps make a similar one but in colours that were probably going to be more preferred by my friend anyway (well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it).

And so this version was born

In the space of a weekend I had the front and back of the quilt pieced and over a week I slowly inched away at the machine quilting. And then unpicked a whole lot of it and started again. These photos were taken after it had had a wash and then a quick iron.

For the first time I also tried attaching the binding by machine - again thanks to Rita and a very thorough tutorial which can be found here

Just don't think I'm going to show you a close up of the binding on Rita's quilt so close to mine. I'm not that silly!

Oh and the result was that my friend had her baby (who was born the day before Australia Day. Very thoughtful for friends who want to visit!) and loves the quilt.

Of course she hasn't seen the Red Pepper version ....

For more, possibly more original creative spaces pop over to Kirsty's place.

my creative space :: my new hangout

2011-01-20T21:10:00.001+11:00

Guess where I went today to get the creative juices flowing?

The kids were just as excited as I was

I've got to say the new Balmain digs are stunning. Set in a light-filled, airy space it is the perfect backdrop to some gorgeous wares including shelves and shelves of Liberty fabrics and Rowan yarns amongst many, MANY others.

The service was spectacular from the fabulous and knowledgable Amy who is lucky enough to get to play here most days.

And would you believe I only walked away with this small stack ...

... well, this time anyway.

For more creative spaces (yay it's back!), whizz over to Kirsty's.

sewing in Japanese

2011-01-18T09:04:00.001+11:00

Almost every time I embark on clothes sewing I am immediately longing for the simple straight lines of piecing a quilt.

BUT having had this book

for over a year and being stuck for an idea for a Christmas present for my sister I confidently told her to "pick a pattern", and I would make it for her.

Gulp.

Luckily (?) she picked the pattern on the front cover (View E) and for over two weeks I would open to the pattern instructions page almost willing it to have morphed into English since the last time I looked.

Surprise surprise it never did.

So armed with some gorgeous floaty, sheer hail spot cotton from Tessuti I took my first few hesitant steps at my first Japanese pattern.

Actually though those first few steps involved a whole sewing session dedicated to figuring out how to draft the pattern pieces

Um yeah. That was a fun few hours. However once I realised that the seam allowance was NOT included in the pattern pieces (lucky I realised BEFORE I started to cut), it was all smooth sailing from there. I found once I was actually sitting at the machine and sewing rather than just sitting on the couch trying to decipher the pattern it all started to become very clear and quite straight forward.

So straight forward that it was done over two relatively short weekend sewing sessions.

And the result was that the sister was very chuffed* but I was probably more chuffed that I had finally lost my Japanese pattern book sewing virginity.

Now to make one for myself.

(Another photo showing the reversed box pleats can be seen here. My door kinda blocked those out in this photo!).

* Especially once I'd made a few adjustments to the sleeves so they fit properly ;)

A little ray of sunshine

2011-01-13T21:25:00.001+11:00

It's been a week of extremes of emotion in our house.

I'm a Queenslander (Brisbane to be exact), from way back and so it has been with a great big lump in my throat that I have watched the utter devastation that has taken place in my old home town. Old family friends have had their boat business completely washed away, but our main concern has been for my 85 year-old Nanna who lives alone in one of the suburbs listed as being on high "flood alert". Luckily my uncle, her son, lives close by and has been able to check in on her everyday. Blessedly (though kind of also annoyingly), she has remained convinced that the small hill she lives on will keep her high and dry and spoke to my mum on the phone yesterday while hanging washing on the line declaring the crisis as "clearly over". If only that were true for those families who have lost their homes or worse, loved ones.

I've tried to keep the television off as much as possible but clearly enough was seen for Sienna to declare to me yesterday, "Mummy, I don't think Daddy should go to Brisbane EVER again!" (he travels frequently to Brisbane with work), and for Luca to create this

In his words it's a, "car boat that can go in the water and fly in the air". Handy really.

On the other end of the emotional rollercoaster today was our 18-20 week scan. Even though I've been enjoying lots of gentle nudges as well as some staggering round-house kicks for the past few weeks, it's always very comforting to see that little bub on the screen and see it's heart beating strongly.

Oh and that it has all it's relevant bits.

Boy bits as it turns out.*

We really thought long and hard about finding out the sex of this baby. Having not found out with Sienna and Luca it was tempting to me to find out this time around to see if it made any difference to how I felt about the pregnancy. I have sent friends mad over the past twenty weeks surveying them on why they did or did not find out the sex of their babies. Given the miscarriage we experienced in 2009, I have been keen to get a head start on visualising this baby and bonding with it. Strange I know that knowing a gender should potentially influence this. We shall wait and see!

ps. There are so many wonderful ways to donate to the people affected by the Queensland floods popping up all over the crafty community. Most notably here and here but for a more extensive list of what people are offering I believe this is the place to go.

pps. We have no boy name ideas whatsoever. Any suggestions?

*Oh yes, the title of this post was somewhat misleading from a gender point of view no? ;)

the 2010 wrap up

2011-01-03T20:51:00.001+11:00

Last year I felt so left out when I saw all the amazing mosaics popping up all over the blogosphere showcasing the year that was that I vowed I would do one before 2010 was out ...

Well, I'm slightly late and having seen the amazing mosaic brilliance here and here I almost decided against doing one of my own. Then I got over myself and did one anyway.

But you know what? Because so many other things happened since I last blogged (almost a MONTH ago!), I thought I might make a 2010 Christmas wrap-up mosaic too

I do hope this new year finds you happy and healthy and brings with it some awesome adventures, lots of love and tonnes of laughter.

Oh and oodles of time to make some stuff.

reasons why I simultaneously love and loathe the postal service

2010-12-07T21:43:00.002+11:00

This is a long and convoluted story but there are pretty pictures at the end so bear with me ... or just skip to the pretty pictures.

When we moved in to this house over three and a half years ago I wondered why our phone and internet was taking so long to get connected, especially since I had pre-organised it all in a very unlike me kinda way. After a few very confusing calls it became apparent that there was both a "street" and an "avenue" by the same name in our suburb. Superb. I can't begin to tell you how many annoying calls it took to sort that all out (not to mention changing phone numbers three times in as many days), but the hits just kept on coming.

Over the years tradesmen have called me, frustrated, demanding to know why I'm not answering the door, ("Um are you at X Street instead of X Avenue? That would be why."), even the midwife visiting us after Luca's birth wondered where we were, especially considering there was a huge delivery of flowers also on the doorstep!

So for near on three and a half years I keep meaning to go round to the house by the same number at X Street and introduce myself and perhaps trade numbers just in case the need ever arose.

Well the need arose when one Tania gently enquired as to the whereabouts of a certain little "just because" brown paper package tied up with string. It was all the motivation I needed to pile the kids in the car on a rainy day and finally get this whole mess sorted out.

As it turned out they were not home so I left a note with the whole sorry tale as well as a general enquiry about certain "packages" that may or may not have arrived on their doorstep within the last few days. Perhaps the word "packages" freaked the residents of the house out somewhat because it took a full 24 hours before finally someone gave me a call. And guess what? Indeed a package HAD turned up on their doorstep ... and had been redirected.

Fast forward a WEEK AND A HALF later and a slightly crumpled, perhaps a little damp brown paper package tied up with string arrived on my doorstep!* Talk about build up!

The wrapping didn't last too long ...

I'd say worth the wait for that gorgeous pile of "just-because-make-my-day-ness" right? Right!

* And now for the reason I loathe the postal service: the package was completely correctly addressed! Arrgh! It's the same suburb dudes. Figure it out!

my creative space

2010-12-02T10:47:00.001+11:00

I've invented a new word:

RUSHTIC: Adj. (pron: "RAH-shh-tick"). A way to describe an item that is made hurriedly and winds up (or can be passed of as), looking quite rustic.

I'll give you a visual description:

Rushtic is the result of becoming aware on the 30 December that the advent calendar you carefully wrapped and carted all the way back from Germany the year before has somehow disappeared and you realise you have about two hours to make another one before pre-school pick up and there will be no time for nice neat turned edges. And breathe out.

The look is undoubtedly helped by constant requests for food by a three-year old (should you happen to have one handy), and the occasional toileting help also required by said three-year old.

For more creative spaces that are probably slightly less "rushtic" head on over to Kirsty's place.

Oh and I almost forgot ...

Edited to Add: Fabric was found entirely in my stash (such were my time constraints!) and include a couple of prints from Kokka gifted to me from Kate, light weight denim from Kelani Fabrics, "Starburst" (?) by Prints Charming and "Rick Rack" from Flowerpress. The heavy linen for the background was from Ikea and the christmas print was picked up in Munich, Germany last year and I was told it was by a Spanish designer.

A Sewjourn

2010-11-29T21:18:00.003+11:00

Well just when I thought I'd run out of creative mojo along came Sewjourn and with it, a massive injection of crafty inspiration.

Thanks in a large part to the stunning surroundings and perhaps a little bit also had to do with some seriously talented (and bloody funny), crafty women.

Not long after arriving with my generous and inspiring travel companion in our awesome vehicle* ...

... I'd learnt about REAL interfacing and soon after that I had learned a few new swear words (which needed to be googled), laughed so hard I had to clutch my sides, and was led into a serious robot fetish.

I watched in awe as beautiful creations were made out Liberty and sense, not to mention beautiful and functional clothing, was made of Japanese pattern books. I woke up to beautiful coffee (good enough to ditch the decaf for a few days), and to make breakfast with a calm and beautiful person. I drooled along with everyone over gorgeous Japanese fabrics which were effortlessly fashioned into the cutest hat I've ever seen.

And what did I make? Well, I found a comfy spot and plodded along with some slow stitching, finished a baby gift and cast on some new knitting (learning "kfab" along the way - so much better in person than on you tube!)

... only to have it all lost for nearly twenty-four hours when my luggage decided to stay in Melbourne.

And I mean really, who could blame it?

*Um, please note that bit up in the "about me" section of my blog where I say I'm sarcastic ...
______________________________________________________________
p.s. I started to respond to individual comments on my last post and then suddenly got a little overwhelmed by the sheer number of responses! But I did want to say a massive and genuine "thank you" for all the lovely, supportive comments. It's so nice to know so many people are genuinely happy for us and this new little person we have on the way!

my creative space :: a project on the side

2010-11-25T16:26:00.000+11:00

So for the last little while I've been a bit quiet, not quite writing too many blog posts and not being a very consistent blog visitor either (sorry!).

I've been feeling bone tired and a bit foggy - not quite conducive to waves of brilliance in the creating department.

But the reason for that has been the little bit of creating I've been doing on the side which I can finally reveal

Phew! Twelve weeks of my creative space in that there little shot.

It's been a roller coaster ride for us what with all the stress of losing our furry pal Max and the shadow of what happened last year. But now finally seeing this little person bouncing around with all it's relevant bits and pieces where they should be I feel like I may finally take a deep breath and believe that this is happening.*

And now hopefully the other creating mojo will slowly return!

For creative spaces with mojo overflowing check out Kirsty's place.

* That thing protruding from the forehead is a balled up fist in the background I promise!

a quilt top

2010-11-23T14:05:00.000+11:00

Very quickly before the clothes line was used for it's actual purpose of drying clothes and not showing off quilts, I snapped a few shots of Sienna's finished quilt top

The last you'll see of it for some time no doubt as I begin the seemingly never ending task of hand quilting it

Oh why oh why did we buy KING single beds?

my creative space :: a morning to myself

2010-11-11T12:34:00.000+11:00

After the roller coaster ride of the past few weeks the kids saw fit to add a bout of gastro to the mix just to spice things up that little bit more. So anything on the creative front has mainly involved the swirling around in my head of things I would have been doing had I not been washing sheets or scrubbing (recycled) raspberry yogurt out of cream coloured carpet.

BUT this morning the eldest is at preschool and the youngest is in care for a few hours so ...

after consuming a few of these it was onto these

which were then added to this

the seemingly never ending sea of pink quilt (with the occasional godsend sprinkling of chocolate brown), for Sienna.

And guess what? With that my morning to myself is over and I'm off to pick up the fellow. But hopefully with this little flurry of activity I'll be back in the veritable creative saddle.

For more creative spaces head on over to Kirsty's place.

the good and the downright bloody awful (in reverse order)

2010-11-01T20:42:00.004+11:00

The Downright Bloody Awful:

Last Wednesday we had to let this gorgeous guy go. After making a few small steps towards a recovery it was an inability for his system to drain lymph fluids which was his ultimate undoing. Never mind the cracked skull. Apparently that would have mended itself but a blockage somewhere in his body due to trauma was just causing too much discomfort and finally we were advised we had done all we could do. And so the last few days has seen us all a bit flat and teary wondering where our constant companion is, only to have that sinking feeling in the pit of the stomach when we remember a millisecond later that he is gone.

The lens of my camera is broken. Not nearly in the same realm but given everything else this has just had me really bloody frustrated quite frankly! Lord knows when we will be able to purchase another one. However this brings me to;

The Good:

A fun app on my phone (and just the pretty decent camera on it really), that has allowed me to shoot a few random bits of goodness. And to be honest I have been sucking the marrow out of these moments of goodness so I thought I might share them.

Butterfly kisses

Oh, and those curls!

I hope there's been more good than awful round your way.

Numero Tre

2010-10-18T10:32:00.006+11:00

Although it seems like five minutes ago, apparently yesterday it was three years since this child decided to make his very late, but quick entrance into the world.

So yesterday we celebrated with a few presents and what has become a family tradition of pancakes* for breakfast at home before dashing up to Newcastle to have a shared birthday celebration with a cousin and extended family members.

All in all a lovely day for this gorgeous, gentle, caring TALL boy of ours.

Happy Birthday Luca!

*Quite honestly, if you have a hankering for thick, fluffy American style pancakes then this is the recipe for you!

p.s. - I may not have managed to reply individually to all the amazing messages of support for our Maxie last week. Your comments really buoyed me through what was a pretty harrowing week. After a few steps forward and many steps back our furry fellow will have surgery on his jaw today. He has regained sight in one eye and is meowing - all small but very good signs for a recovery.

Max

2010-10-12T13:28:00.002+11:00

A few weeks before my 30th birthday (six years ago - *gulp*), I spotted that gorgeous fellow above in a shop run by a breeder of Burmilla cats. I'd never heard of the breed before and really couldn't have cared less what he was. I just fell in love on the spot with this cute little silver bundle. After much negotiation with the non-cat-loving Mr I finally won out and Max ended up being my birthday present.

He was soon dubbed "cat-dog" due to his ability to play fetch, go for walks on a lead and a penchant for playing hide and seek. Within a few days he had the Mr well and truly won over.

Fast forward a few years and poor old Maxie had to get used to small babies entering his domain. At times he looked visibly depressed that he was no longer the only focus of our affections but before long he was submitting to all sorts of child lead ~~torture~~ fun.

And truth be told Max is probably the family member who was most enthusiastic about my entry in the world of sewing and quilts

On Sunday afternoon Maxie was crossing the road, no doubt to see one of his many neighbourhood "friends", when he was hit by a car. Luckily the people who hit him know us and critical minutes were saved getting him up to the local vets. As I write this Maxie is still alive but has some fairly massive injuries. I'm still waiting for the vets to tell us we need to let him go but for the moment they are giving us hope that they have seen cats fully recover from the same state that Maxie is currently in.

And so we wait and we hope for our affectionate, gentle, quilt-loving, sun-worshipping boy to make it through and come back home where he belongs ...

... in the sun atop of a pile of clean laundry.

Schoolhouse Tunic

2010-10-08T14:53:00.001+11:00

Ever since I sat next to Sophie at The Craft Room all day craft-a-thon and witnessed her whip up a Schoolhouse Tunic in the space of a few hours I was chomping at the bit to make my own. To me this top is the perfect combination of a flattering neckline and then that fantastic drop-from-the-waist-ness that cleverly disguises any hint of late night chocolate eating.

So when I was in New York recently I had my yardage requirements handy as I navigated the overwhelming isles of Mood.* I found some lovely, gauzy, silky voile and immediately fell in love. Of course the voile and I have not exactly been seeing eye to eye over the past few days but otherwise I found the Schoolhouse Tunic pattern to be pretty straight forward, thanks in a large part to the very clear instructions.

Now here's the problem.

When I bought the fabric I didn't notice the large rose design in the circle running along the base of the fabric. When I was cutting out the pattern I felt it was going to be better to try and keep the rose on the skirt part of the tunic rather than emblazoned all over "the girls".

HOWEVER I now realise that perhaps a great big rose over my lower abdomen is not perhaps the most flattering look either.

Confirmed when I modelled it for the Mr last night and he loudly guffawed (and a guffaw is big from the guy who usually lets not even a snigger pass his lips).

Oh and in case you can't see my butt highlighted by the other huge rose I'm helpfully pointing it out for you.

So friends here are my options as I see them:

1. Cut the tunic up to the shirt length thus rendering the circle shape to a semi circle. However this would mean I would have a large semi circle at the top of my backside. Would that be worse?

2. Leave it as is and wear it with confidence as if I had planned it that way.

What say you?

p.s Jo also made a lovely shirt version in the past week which you can see here.

* For fellow lovers of Project Runway you'll know how much of a struggle it was for me to not shout out, "Thank you Moooood" a la Tim Gunn at the end of my Mood visit.

my creative space

2010-10-07T15:55:00.001+11:00

Well I had hoped to share with you the item of sewing that has been consuming my creative space for the last few days, my school house tunic but this is the state it's in as of five minutes ago.

Cat hair included. So I might share that in a few days.

Instead I thought I'd take this opportunity to alert you to the fourth round of Softies for Mirabel, you know, if you've been living under a rock or something. Now by my count you've still got plenty of time to get cracking on your softie of choice before they are due in at Pip's place. Last year was my first go and I made this guy. Believe it or not, he is my most viewed image on flickr. Go figure.

This year I'm feeling inspired by this little bit of cuteness I happened upon in the French Marie Claire Idees magazine (and if anyone can tell me what the brown fabric on his belly is I will love you forever).

Or perhaps I can find inspiration a little closer to home in these guys.

Sienna made the chocolate brown one in the front (named, "Elizabeth" until just this moment when she declared it's called "One-patch ear, one-patch eye underpants"), at a sewing class she attended last week. Of course we then had to whip up a companion for Luca the next day, the appropriately named "Spotty Dog".

Now if you want to see an amazing donation in progress head on over to Kate's for a look at what she's up to.

For more creative spaces pop over to Kirsty's.

that handmade sigh of relief

2010-10-01T14:55:00.002+10:00

You know the one right? That comfortable groove when you get to make something for a fellow crafter or believer in the "I-don't-care-that-it's-got-wonky-seams-cos-it's-handmade" philosophy.

That cosy feeling had me sailing through this second version of the ice-cream social dress*. Even the bits where I was muttering through my gritted teeth and unpicking seams into the wee small hours were worth it knowing that it was going to be worn by the daughter of a fellow sewist.

Fellow sewist herself also had a birthday and suddenly I was completely and utterly stuck for ideas. For weeks I was tossing up potential projects. Placemats? No she's made them already. A table runner? No she's made one already. A tote bag. No she's made one already. Knit something? Don't be stupid you know how slow you are at knitting.

In the end I came up with a variation on the burlap bucket I made here (pattern from the very talented maya*made) and this book.

My other crafty (and Libran, and red loving), friend got the same fabrics (which, incidentally are both from Kelani) in a different way

A cushion with a tiny bit of quilting on the branches of those beautiful trees. She got some other stuff too (namely an antique amber owl brooch from Yard Sale), but I just know she's loving the handmade cushion just that little bit more. You know?

*Believe it or not the dark fabric used in the ice-cream social dress is actually the same denim as used in the other two projects. A combination of a dull day and an early morning, pre-birthday party photo shoot has ended up making it look black. Which it's not. Just sayin'.

a spring in my step

2010-09-24T14:41:00.001+10:00

There are so many things to love about this amazing season that I thought I might just make a list.

Spending a lot more time in the garden as we try to forget vegetable and herb disasters of seasons past and start all over again

... finding little beasties along the way

Discovering a new reason to sit and do some meditative stamping

Being totally seduced by all the blooms on offer

... and I use the word "blooms" kinda loosely

Harnessing that desire to make old things new again and do a bit of sprucing up around the place

What are you loving about the season you find yourself in?

my creative space OR reasons my house is so dirty

2010-09-16T10:58:00.001+10:00

Please tell me I'm not the only one who chooses crafty stuff over cleaning?*

But this is going a wee bit too far, no?

But you know I figure for all the time I spend hanging washing on the line I might as well use the time to give myself a few one-word, easily digestible reminders of what's important. Well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Now to figure out a way sealing them without making the ink run .... any suggestions welcome!

Now put down that broom/duster/cloth/child and head over to Kirsty's place for some creative spaces. She's got the power tools out today so you just know she's serious.

*Who am I kidding? I am so aware I'm preaching to the converted.

home, sweet home

2010-09-12T14:36:00.000+10:00

Ah New York.

There really is no place quite like it.

I love it so much I have declared since my first (and second), visit many years ago that I would move there yesterday.

And yet the minute I'm on the way home and start to hear the flattened vowels of the flight attendants (i.e "Baaarry, have you got any more chaaardonnaaay?"), I get excited about getting home and about seeing that blinding light of ours as I step off the plane.

And so it was yesterday that we decided to bask in the beauty and uniqueness that is this country of ours

and wound up on a blanket with the best view in the world.

Home, sweet home.

my creative space ... overload

2010-08-26T14:28:00.001+10:00

I am painfully aware that the only time I have blogged in the past THREE weeks was when there was a Creative Space to turn up for. And why is that? Well because I have been too busy making stuff to blog about anything else!

In fact I've been so busy making stuff I haven't even had time to look up and really notice anything that is going on in my house or with my family either that I could potentially blog about. Or just be involved in.

And now that I find myself at the finish line of all this making it suddenly hit me: did I enjoy any of that or did I power through it like a woman possessed? It's also hard to admit that upon reflection there have definitely been times over the past few weeks where I have chosen to sit myself at the machine rather than being available to help build train tracks or play hide and seek.

Yeah sure the sewing machine is set up in the middle of our tiny living room where all the action is and I do believe it's good for the kids to see me doing something that I like to do, but still, I'm acutely aware that the balance has been off.

So I will take the next two weeks to ponder that balance, return to the meditative click clack of the sticks, write some lists, peruse some patterns, follow some links, see some friends get married, and perhaps remind myself what it was about all this making that I liked in the first place.

I shall return refreshed and recharged!

That's if I can get the cat off the quilt and get myself on a plane.

In the meantime you know where to go to get your own creative juices flowing.

my creative space

2010-08-19T17:27:00.002+10:00

This week I give you quilts three ways:

Firstly a doll quilt for The Down Under Doll Quilt swap organised by the lovely (and currently injured) Kate.

This linen and Liberty combo was hand quilted and is currently on it's way to it's new home. If I ever mention my intention to sew gorgeous buttery Liberty together with a lovely open weave linen can someone remind me to screw my head back on? This was ~~bloody hard~~ challenging but completely worth it for the recipient!

Secondly some machine quilted pot holders as part of the loot I'm making for my Urban Home Goods Swap partner.

I like these so much it will be a bit tricky to part with them. But that would mean needing to make another item (along with all the others I have planned), and that may very well push me over the crafty edge. More than sewing Liberty and linen together.

And last but not least a close up of the wedding quilt after it's lightening fast (read: "overnight"), trip to Suzanne for some long-arm quilting.

This was Suzanne's first long-arm quilt and I am just bowled over by how well it has turned out. Next step; hand sewing on the binding and packing this baby in my suitcase next Saturday.

That's if I can get a very appreciative cat off it first.

For more creative spaces head on over to Kirsty's place ...

my creative space :: a wedding quilt ... or two

2010-08-12T21:48:00.001+10:00

Many many many months ago we were invited to an old high school friend's wedding in his adopted home town of New York and in a weird case of denial, probably brought on by the recent intense "don't leave my side-ness" of the youngest child* it only dawned on me three weeks ago that it was all really happening. Soon.

And that's when it also hit me that perhaps I could make a quilt for the happy couple. And then in the next second I realised that would be crazy given the time constraints. I fired off a text to a quilty friend:

"Just realised I should have made J & E a quilt! Too late now?"

To which she, enabler that she is, responded, "Nah not too late. Big squares!"

Fast forward a couple of hours an I had pulled tonnes of fabric off the shelves aiming for a version of the "Avalon" quilt from Material Obsession 1. Fast forward a couple more hours and I had this

Then for some reason a few days later I thought I'd send the bride-to-be an email enquiring about her tastes in homewares, favourite colours and so on. The reply was along the lines of, "J (husband-to-be), would say I have eclectic taste. I love all colours, especially blues and greens. Don't really like reds and oranges."

Gulp.

So it was back to the drawing board and a few weeks later I have this

A disappearing nine-square patch made entirely from the stash (insert little happy dance), including some vintage fabric in the form of a pillowcase sent to me awhile ago by Andi. And I know for a fact that the bride loves op-shopping ... or the American equivalent.

And because it was a windy day and because, well, I do actually really love this quilt I thought we'd just snap a few more shots together ...

Sigh. Yes it will be hard to let this one go. But I am quite chuffed to think of it sitting elegantly flung onto a sofa somewhere in NYC. Did I mention the bride also works for Martha Stewart? No pressure or anything.

But first for some quilting and binding. This baby needs to be on a plane in two weeks time.

For more creative spaces, hop on over to Kirsty's digs.

* the eldest on the other hand couldn't care less so long as she's having the holiday of a lifetime at the grandparents place who have recently installed a "Secret Garden". She is in Mary Lennox heaven at the thought.

birthday boy

2010-08-03T13:07:00.003+10:00

It was Jamie's birthday last week and as usual, I had absolutely no idea what to get for him.

And as usual he was ever helpful with, "um .... I don't know" being his answer to my frequent pleas for guidance.

So what do you get or make for the bloke who wants nothing* and isn't exactly the type to don a lovingly made beanie or scarf (he's never got over the childhood "it's itchy!" factor)?

At the eleventh hour, with a little help from my friends ...

... and a little covert stitchery right under the birthday boy's nose complete with strict instructions on colour selections ...

... we had ourselves a nice little book mark. Notice he is wearing, "heart socks with his clip clop work shoes". As you do.

And then we had cupcakes.

* on an outing with the kids he did just happen to buy "the family" a present ;)

my creative space :: making the best of it

2010-07-29T10:41:00.000+10:00

Wow. Long time no blog.

Things have been a wee bit tricky around here with not the least of our problems being a buggered hard drive ... on a six month old computer! Which is why I am also a bit behind in sharing what was (so glad it's past tense), my creative space a week or so ago ...

My poor little fellow had a runny nose that quickly became difficulty breathing which then had us racing back to hospital only a few months after our last visit. This time though the poor tike wound up with pneumonia which saw us moving into the hospital for a week. Half way through our stay we got the news that in fact he had a respiratory virus as well, which meant we were moved into an isolated room which he was not allowed to leave.

Enter the books, DVD's, finger puppets, favourite toys, and thanks to the proximity of Art on King, scissors, paper and copious amounts of glue and we had ourselves a regular little hospital room creative space going on!

And what about my creative space? Well thanks also to the (too) close proximity of countless bookshops and Mag Nation (thanks Bianca!) I had a spot of reading material

And after staring at the hard cold surfaces of a hospital room it was only so long before a bombing was required ... my first!

I also used my camera as a way of "seeing" what I couldn't "see"

More of these can be seen here.

I have to say a massive "thanks" to all my twitter buddies who were literally my lifeline to the world outside the hospital ward and for all the local offers of help and donuts (why did I refuse those?).

For more and no doubt healthier creative spaces duck on over to Kirsty's place.

p.s The boy is back to his usual healthy self ... cross fingers!

my creative space :: back to pink ... and other stuff

2010-07-08T14:50:00.002+10:00

After years of having the same scarf on the needles not knowing how to cast off I had given up hope of ever becoming, "a knitter".

Then even after completing a cowl (or two) I still did not consider myself a knitter. Because in the world according to me I could not consider myself a knitter until I had knitted arm holes.

And look, I did!

Two of them in fact! This little number was a pattern suggested to me by Ms Knit herself, Tania who, if I recall correctly, claimed the ease of this start-at-the-top-knit-in-the-round-till-the-end vest had the power to transform non-knitters into knitting freaks. Come to think of it she may not have used the word "freaks"...

Well anyway she was right! I loved knitting this and so far Ms Pinkalicious loves it as well. Of course I outsourced the weaving in of ends bit to my Mum when she came for a visit and as payment I finally handed over her completed 60th birthday quilt ... seven months after her 60th.

I think I mentioned at the time of making this how much I struggled with this quilt. Not just because of matching up pinwheel points but also because I chose fabrics I thought Mum would like (which she does), but which I just really did not.

Well now that it's all quilted (long arm - love the weight this added to it), and bound and, well, out of this house it is beginning to grow on me ... a bit.

For more creative spaces (probably including some real knitters who can even do sleeves!), head on over to Kirsty's place.

Disco Duds

2010-07-07T15:16:00.002+10:00

Poor Luca. What with all the pink quilty, yarny*, dressy** stuff going on in the house for Ms Pinkalicious my poor fella tends to miss out a bit.

A year ago I bought some electric blue corduroy as a last resort at Spotlight because it was the only colour they had left and I was desperate to redeem myself in the pant making department. Well, a year later folks and I finally decided to dive back into the pant making waters. Using a pair of much loved pants as a sort-of pattern and the opportunity to sew afforded by a rainy day and Mary Poppins on high rotation, I got to whipping up the duds.***

For some reason (probably aided by my addition of the psychedelic Prints Charming pockets), they turned out to look like a pair of disco flares circa 1970.

And bizarrely they turned my, "Don't dance!!" boy into Disco Stu himself.

It was hard to get a photo in between bouts of twirls, leaps and pirouettes

And then finally Disco Stu was all boogied out

In what I can only gather is an overwhelming feeling of relief and sheer gratitude that I finally made him something he has barely taken them off in the last 24 hours. I really should make him things more often.

* Back to girly yarny related crafts tomorrow ...
** Are you coming to the Ice-Cream Social? You should!
*** I'm pretty sure "Duds" is Aussie slang for pants. When I referred to his pants this morning to his art teacher (who sounded English) as "duds", she very politely said, "Oh no they're not duds I think they're great" ...

Pink-a-licious

2010-06-29T10:26:00.001+10:00

Let's talk about pink

Love it or loathe it if you have a child in your life of the female variety it seems impossible to avoid it.

Believe me I've tried. I feel like I've been suggesting "other colours" for five years. And then some where along the line I kinda gave up and figured I had better just go with the flow.

But there is pink and there is pink right? For instance if pink is paired with certain other colours I seem to find it rather pleasing. Which is how I felt when I first saw this gorgeous Liberty print and which was why I felt I had to purchase quite a bit of it when I saw it in London last year.

Not long after that trip I happened upon this gorgeous quilt on Flickr and knew instantly I wanted to do something similar for my pinkaliscious girl.*

And I got a head start at the Sunday Craft Room get together where not only did I get to cut and sew for more than five minutes in a row, I got to finally put faces to names (the lovely Sheridan and Amy) as well as meet some great new people!

So I say let's embrace (certain shades and combinations of), PINK!

* A very weird (and excellent), thing happened when I went to the Craft and Quilt Fair. Armed with the photo of my intended quilt I stalked the fabric stands in search of similar fabrics (in particular, the brown with the large pink dots). When I approached Cathy at Kelani and showed her the photo she declared, "That's my quilt!" How's that for random excellence?!

Whirlwind weekend

2010-06-21T15:24:00.000+10:00

So the weekend started with a firm declaration by me that I was going to the Sydney Quilt and Craft Fair BY MYSELF. A lot of very ernest pre-empting then took place to convince Mr two-and-a-half year-old-stuck-to-my-leg that he would indeed love a trip with Dad and sister to the Powerhouse Museum. Especially since Mummy was only going to be looking at boring old quilts (I fear I may have put him off any burgeoning love of the art of quilting).

And so it was that I did indeed find myself ALONE at the fair. Well, if you don't include the billions of excited women (and perhaps a sprinkling of blokes), all elbowing each other out of the way. I will admit to a tinge of unexpected sadness thinking of my whirlwind trip to the fair this time last year but I was determined to at least go and visit Kathy and not burst into tears all over her as I did one year earlier*.

It was a good excuse to saunter by a few other stores to say hello to friends ...

And to make some new ones (more on that to come) ...

Ok a few of the goodies I found in amongst the socialising

Before I had time to unpack the rest and drool all over it we were off to a party

A cupcake decorating party to be exact

Lord. I get a sugar hit just looking at this little beauty.

How was your weekend?

*I did NOT cry but came really close!

my creative space :: playing catch up

2010-06-17T21:24:00.001+10:00

Gee whizz you'd wonder if I had a blog at all with the almost non-existant updating.

But what with the constant baskets of laundry (one of which I just stopped folding to write this ... funny it does not seem to be folding itself as I type), a non-sleeping-during-the-day-anymore toddler and taped episodes of Masterchef to catch up on the poor old blog is getting put on the back burner.

That was of course until I had finished my latest knitted thingy and am pretty happy (and warmed) with the results

Yep, feeling pretty grateful round about now that I've downsized the photos. And admittedly this isn't the best shot of the feature of this beauty which is the stomach-cramp inducing dropped stitches creating the ladder effect. For a better shot (minus the nose) go see Tania who first made me gasp with the "I must do this and I must do it now's" upon seeing her version. Pattern and yarn details can be found here.

So while you're here I might just flash up a few other bits of homemade goodness that have come in to and out of our house of late. Ok? Cool.

Another fail safe, always met with a smile On-the-go Art Satchel for a friend turning six.

Ok make that two On-the-go Art satchel's. A belated shot of one I made for Sienna's fifth birthday.

Also for Sienna's birthday, this gorgeous Neighborly vest knitted by my bestie, Antonia.

A red corduroy dress with little flower detail I made for my niece's second birthday.

And speaking of flowers this amazingly delicate, gorgeousness made by Cathie arrived in the post on Tuesday thanks to a very uncharacteristic for me win on her recent giveaway. I can't begin to tell you how much I love this work of art.

Ok and finally (are you still there?), this cushion I recently finished for Max, son of bestie (of the previously mentioned Neighbourly fame) who recently turned two. It features a bit of embroidery I was working on a few creative spaces' ago, the owl and the pussycat, a free pattern from Follow the White Bunny. As my first foray into embroidery I was pretty happy with the result. Admittedly it's mainly pretty simple backstitch but you know, baby steps.

Right then, back to some laundry folding.

Now if you have any reading ability left I strongly suggest you head on over to Kirsty's place and make your way through the ever growing list.

here comes the sun

2010-06-07T09:49:00.002+10:00

I woke up yesterday morning to these scenes in my backyard ...

After three solid weeks of rain it was so very nice to see. Never underestimate the power of sunshine to one's state of mind!

I hope the scenery is "sunny" where you are too.

p.s Thank you for all the kind, supportive, "go gently" comments on my last post. It was like receiving a nice warm cyber-hug!

the post that isn't going to write itself

2010-06-02T18:04:00.000+10:00

So I have been a tad on the quiet side lately. I'm not sure why or more to the point, I'm not sure if there is one reason or if it's due to a collection of many reasons.

Nothing to write about. Not feeling particularly inspired. Don't have a burning desire to do this or that. Sick children. Birthday parties. Rain. Rain. A bit more rain. Too much clutter. A very clingy two-and-a-half year old (read: sleeping with me, needing to shower with me). Not much time to myself. House hunting in Sydney. Lots of solo parenting due to the Mr's work travel commitments. Too many late nights. Oh and the kicker this week has involved me getting a case of impetigo (google it but make sure you're not eating at the time). And since this blog is meant to be my "happy place" I didn't really feel like giving a voice to any of those tricky bits and pieces of life.

Problem with that is I can't seem to blog about anything else until I get this out. Does that make sense? Perhaps it has been causing me a creative block NOT writing about these things.

Back in December I vowed to myself I would not blog about my miscarriage again. Not because I wanted to pretend it never happened but, you know, this space was never meant to be about "that" kind of stuff. And not that I mind reading other people's blogs that discuss these types of issues because I do (it kinda makes me feel like I'm not the only one you know?) but I just felt it was the last time I wanted to deal with it in a public forum.

However I'm guessing lately that my "ho-humness" with life in general could be related to the fact that it was around about sometime this time last year that it all happened. I say, "sometime around this time" because in the ultimate dose of mother-guilt I have no idea of the exact moment that poor little baby's heart stopped beating.

So for now I am trying to be a bit gentle with myself in other ways. I'm spending time tinkering around with bits and pieces of furniture in an attempt to make my space a bit more inspiring (for everyone)

I'm trying to take the time to sit down when I have a cup of tea in my hand

I'm trying not to feel too guilty about flicking on the tv for the kids every now and then and I'm taking the time when I can to visit blogs even if I'm not writing one.

So we shall see what comes of that.

my creative space

2010-05-20T21:37:00.001+10:00

I found myself trapped under a large furry, purring object today and so was unable to complete any coursework during my three child-free hours.

So I gave up, found a sunny, cat-free spot and started work on a wee bit of stitching (thanks to Nicole at Follow the White Bunny) for a small person's upcoming birthday.

And clearly I was no longer child-free.

For more creative spaces head on over to Kirsty's place.

f i v e

2010-05-14T20:28:00.001+10:00

I probably should have known when you came out the wrong way* and then made a dive to go under my leg instead of up to the surface of the water that you were going to insist on doing things your way.

We butt heads a lot you and I but secretly, I love your insistent nature and I am learning to love your unique sense of (ahem) "style".

Like the jewellery you made in preparation for a visit to Santa last year

Or your Cathy Freeman inspired choice in clothing

(note the long snow man socks)

Happy Birthday my crazy, awesome girl.**

* posterior unbeknownst to me. Other than the intense 18 hours of back pain. Youch.

** also know as Sienna, Ms Mae, Miss S, Possum, Poss, Fluff, Fluffer, HR Fluff'n'Stuff ...

my creative space :: time on the mountain

2010-05-06T14:24:00.003+10:00

"Time on the mountain Mel, time on the mountain" is what my friend Joe prescribed on our recent holiday whenever I whinged about my lack of ski skills.

Well, as it turns out "time on the sticks" was also what was required for me to be now, well and truly converted to the dark side.

Or maybe the trick was using such beautiful yarn. Or maybe it was the perfect pattern (The Everyday Cowl) for a knitter with my attention span. That excellent balance of simple stitches with a few fancy bits thrown in there now and then to stop me from getting bored and going back to my quick crafty fix of sewing a seam or two.

Now please excuse my bath towels in the background of my self-portrait shot

All set for some fairly constant wear over the next few days on my quick trip to Melbourne for Stitches & Craft! And now that it's finished, no worries about my needles being confiscated at the security check.

For more creative spaces and no doubt lots more chatting about S&C drop on over to Kirsty's place.

one of "those" days

2010-05-03T15:54:00.002+10:00

Maybe it's Monday-itis or maybe it's the fact that I am entering week seven of a cough and runny nose (Chinese herbs should take effect any day now ...) but today has been one of those days that finds me struggling to find my happy place.

Thank heavens for the camera which seems to show me things I would otherwise have struggled to see today.

my creative space :: cloudy at first but with a silver lining

2010-04-29T14:20:00.000+10:00

The latest block from The Beehive had me in all sorts. Katrina had asked for a massive 16 inch block based on Rita's design using Amy Butler's "Love" fabrics and some nice solid white.

The cloudy day part went like this:

I cut the squares too big not trusting my ability to get a perfect quarter inch seam.

I then needed to trim down 16 half-square triangles.

I then realised I hadn't read the instructions properly and I needed another 16 half-square triangles.

I then realised I had run out of fabric.

After a trip to the LQS for an emergency fat quarter of 'Love' the square worked out in the end with surprisingly accurate pointy bits meeting where they were supposed to.

So, what to do with the rest of the fat quarter? Enter the impending 5th birthday of a fellow purple-loving friend, an awesome FREE tutorial and we have this

The On-The-Go Art Satchel

And then because I ripped the sticker off the front of the sketch book in a weird way I needed to cover it with this little patch

Clearly needing a bit more practice in the 'ol backstitch department but otherwise a gift I am going to be pretty happy to give. And a silver lining ;)

For more creative spaces you know where to go ... but if you don't click here to zoom over to Kirsty's joint.

my creative space :: chick(s) with sticks or my conversion to "the dark side"

2010-04-22T13:51:00.005+10:00

Around the time I got back into sewing (about this time last year as a matter of fact), my friend Antonia taught herself to knit. With a wee bit of help from my Mum (who is one of those freaky fast knitters whose hands are a blur), she was well on her way. Add to that the help of a few you tube videos and a healthy addiction to yarn-inspired blogs and she was soon teaching my Mum a thing or two.

She then, was my go to person when I decided my fear of the sticks must end. As my birthday approached I put in an order for some fancy needles and a suggestion of where to start.

Well, not only did she deliver some needles, she added some gorgeous yarn, downloaded a pattern, AND started me off by casting it on (insert sheepish grin).*

Enter this weeks yucky colds and coughs and I had the perfect excuse to take to the couch on the weekend with my tissues, my tea and my knitting.

Now not that I want to count my chickens or anything but I went from this

To this in less than a week!

No five years in the making for this little number.

Hmmm I'm starting to feel a little sick again. Best go sit down and do a few rows.

Catch up on all the creative goodness around the blogosphere at Kirsty's digs.

*Thinking I may need some help to cast off I hoped to bring my knitting with me when I come down to Melbourne. Being a bit of a rules girl, wanting to travel light, and imagining my own horror should my knitting be confiscated at the security check, I thought I'd give the airline a call to ask if metal knitting needles were allowed on board. The following was an excerpt of the conversation I had with the call centre person;

Me: I see I can take knitting needles on board the flight but can I take metal knitting needles?

Call Centre Person (CCP): Needles? No you can't take anything pointy on board.

Me: Well it says on the website I can actually take knitting needles on board but I just wondered if I can take METAL ones?

CCP: What are they?

Me: Knitting needles.

CCP: What are they used for?

Me: Umm, knitting.

and the winner is ...

2010-04-20T14:28:00.001+10:00

*cough cough*, *sneeze*

Oh sorry I'll just get someone to grab a tissue for me

hold on a minute ...

The tissues have been replaced with little white pieces of paper

And whose name might that be?

Why it's Little Ted Canvas! Congratulations! You are the winner of all this loot, PLUS I shall be digging around in the stash for some fabric in greys and/or dusty blues.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to enter my blog'o'versary giveaway and for all the lovely thoughts on my birthday. It made my day/s!

on the doorstep

2010-04-19T13:49:00.001+10:00

We're all bunkered down here with colds that seem to involve copious amounts of the green stuff (sorry if you're eating), as well as a very unattractive hacking cough.

So for some reason while I was in the kitchen whipping up a batch of healing chicken soup (lest I end up with risotto again), I also thought I'd make some scones. As you do.

Surprisingly they worked and so in an attempt to get out of the house, if only for two minutes we bundled some up to do a scone drop for our neighbour.

And guess what I found on my own front door on my way out?

A pin cushion!

Yay! Courtesy of the lovely Fran from Lovely Little Sweetpeas. Fran is the creator of the stupendous On-The-Go-Art Satchel which I am currently making for a special someone. But clearly she is also a very talented pin cushion maker too! Look at that ribbon goodness around the edge! And of course the fabric is gorgeous.

Knowing my favourite colour is purple Fran also included these beautiful little crochet flowers.

Sweet!

And one more thing. I can't believe Fran parted with this but oh I'm so glad she did

A critter card from Tania! Love it.

Fran, you've made my otherwise dreary day that much brighter. Thank you!

And thank you Kate for organising such a great swap.

p.s Have you entered my giveaway yet? It'll close at 9am tomorrow morning so get in quick!

a blog-o-versary, a birthday and a giveaway

2010-04-16T12:47:00.003+10:00

Right, first things first.

A while back this here blog'o'mine turned one. Hard to believe considering I've never managed to keep a diary for more than a few days. I guess the difference between a diary and a blog is YOU. You sitting there reading this stuff I prattle on about and (still can't believe this part), taking the time to write me a comment. I truly had no idea when I wrote my first post, from my kitchen making egg and lettuce sandwiches, that one year on I would have made true friends not to mention all the amazing things I have learned from reading everyone else's blogs.

So, in return I offer you a long overdue and hearty THANK YOU and the chance to grab a pile of goodies I have been accumulating for the long overdue, better late than never blog-o-versary giveaway!

For a better explanation of what it all is there are notes about everything here. In addition I want to include fabric but had no idea what to choose. So, if you want a chance to win this lot* enter a comment below and tell me what your favourite colour is (or what colour fabric you like because sometimes, it differs doesn't it?), and I'll include some fabric in that colour.

Oh and the birthday bit? Well today is my 36th birthday. So far it has been spent wiping two runny noses, changing more than my fair share of dirty nappies, and splitting up more fights than I care to think of. BUT this afternoon there will be cupcakes! Sadly not these gorgeous offerings but hopefully they'll come close ;)

Good luck everybody and thanks again x

* if you live outside of Australia I will include a lighter version of the teacup pincushion ;)

Edited to Add: Forgot to say I will draw a winner in some random manner next Tuesday 20 April.

my creative space :: table

2010-04-15T09:42:00.000+10:00

A few weeks ago I mentioned I had lost my creative space when the front room we had referred to as "the art room" was reverted back to a bedroom. Bedtimes had become increasingly difficult and finally we realised the small people may need a (hopefully temporary), separation.

And so the sewing space is now on the dining room table (grumble), in the middle of the lounge room (grumble, grumble). Places need to be found for fabric* to make way for books (grumble to the power of three).

And so it was in this grumbling state of mind that I happened upon this photo on flickr ...

Image courtesy of Knitsteel

... and was reminded that I once said to my closest friend, while pregnant with my first baby (the one that is now taking over my fabric shelves), that when I thought about my future I visualised a large dining room table covered with tonnes of "stuff" and surrounded by tonnes of kids.

And suddenly I realised that, with a few exceptions (i.e. the "tonnes" of kids. And I reserve the right to revise what "tonnes" means to me), I had what I always wanted.

A "knock-about-don't-have-to-be-too-worried-what-gets-on-it-salvaged-from-the-skip-next-door" table with an ever changing range of projects going on (as I type play dough snails, snakes and button-adorned cupcakes are being made).

So maybe I won't grumble too much about losing my space when I am gaining so much more.

For more creative spaces hop on over to Kirsty's place.

* On the topic of fabric I am finally going to put up my better-late-than-never bloggy birthday giveaway TOMORROW! I promise!

wordless wednesday :: break

2010-04-14T13:28:00.000+10:00

ordinary day

2010-04-09T10:59:00.002+10:00

I saw this on one of my favourite blogs, Uncommon Grace, and given that it's school holidays and we might be spending a bit more time with our little people, I thought I might share it here as well.

Get the tissues ready ...

my creative space :: is sick

2010-04-08T11:10:00.001+10:00

Three weeks of a sore throat, some antibiotics thrown in there without any result and finally I have given in.

And so this is my creative space : my bed where I have a lovely view of the latest stack'o'books. Some read and loved so much they can never be put away on the shelf, but most still waiting patiently for their turn.

See you all on the flipside.

And for creative spaces without the misery, go visit Kirsty ... man I could do with a pair of her slippers right about now ...

p.s Any and all tried and tested flu-ish remedies welcomed. As well as ways to describe "soup" so that the Mr doesn't come home with risotto.

looooong weekend

2010-04-05T20:23:00.003+10:00

Soooo many photos of the weekend that was it's hard to choose just one. So I haven't. Buckle up.

An Easter egg hunt that happened so early, it needed to be conducted by flashlight

Yummy hot cross buns slathered in jam with fingers then usually run through the hair for a bit of extra stickiness

A long enough break in the annual Easter down pour for a picnic with my 86 year-old Nanna from Brisbane (her Dad helped build that there little bridge in the background).

Wishing I could heed the advice on this sign ...

... but glad that somebody did (anything for a photograph)

Some quality time with Poppy ...

... and with Aunty

Time to build never ending tracks with Daddy

And even some time in there for sewing a cushion for my mother-in-law despite having lost my sewing room*.

Just lots of time really.

What did you find time for?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

* bedtimes were doing this Mummy's head in ... enough that I was willing to sacrifice my space - and that should speak volumes!

my creative space :: pin cushion madness

2010-04-01T13:12:00.001+11:00

Some time ago I referred to sewing a pin cushion as "ego sewing". Having badly mucked up a pair of pants for the little fella I consoled myself by making a very simple, very cute little pin cushion. And it worked a treat. Not only did I wind up with a much needed pin cushion, I felt confident to tackle the next project ... probably fixing the little fella's mucked up pants.

So having had a break from the machine for the last few weeks I was itching to get stitching. Enter Kate's excellent Pin Cushion Swap and we have ourselves the perfect excuse for quick, fun, very satisfying stitchery! You only have to look here, here and here (just to name a few), to see how the pin cushion bug really has bitten.

My only problem has been knowing when to stop

Then I found some tea cups I'd been meaning to use for crafty purposes (the rims were a bit too thick for tea sipping purposes. I'm fussy like that).

So then as you can see, slightly obsessed.

Now the question is - which one do I give to my swap partner?

For more creative spaces (and no doubt a few more discussions of pin cushions) pop round to Kirsty's place. And speaking of pin cushions (and popping), did you see her creation? Crazy talented I tell you!

p.s My slightly late bloggy birthday giveaway is still in the works and will no doubt now include a pin cushion ... or three.

the "f" word

2010-03-28T20:09:00.002+11:00

No not that one! The other one.

Frogged.

A while ago I admitted to the stealth knitter herself that I had started a scarf well before the birth of my first child, but had yet to complete it due to ... well, ok I don't know how to cast off alright?! That first child was born almost five years ago and every now and then over the years I have found said scarf bundled up here and there.

And every now and then a row or two would be added.

And then in another of my massive - if not sporadic - clean up's the never-ending scarf would again be squirreled away somewhere.

After the latest find (around about this time I assume), I decided it looked quite decorative sitting in a nice basket. And that's where it has now sat waiting ever so patiently, collecting dust, to be completed and just worn already!

So back to the casting off. Tania then kindly (well, actually she SHOUTED it at me), offered to show me how to cast-off the never-ending scarf should I manage to get down to the Melbourne version of Stitches and Craft. Very tempting. But then I appraised the scarf again and wondered at how much better it might look if I went a bit crazy and added a bit of pearl stitching into the mix ...

And so in a rush of blood I f----ed it up

And guess what friends?

Last night I watched about three you tube videos trying to remember how to cast on.

Watch this space for scarf progress! Actually probably best you don't. It could take five years off your life.

my creative space :: Oliver's Quilt

2010-03-25T10:52:00.002+11:00

My nephew was christened on the weekend and by some miracle (pardon the pun), the quilt I had started for him actually got finished in time.

It was a stacked coin affair (the quilt, not the christening), and guess what? ALL the fabrics were found in my stash! This is a fact that the Mr does not find so startling. I guess he was thinking of the overflowing shelves of fabric as he stared at me with that stunned, "what-the-hell-are-you-talking-about-I-thought-that-was-the-whole-point" face.

Anyway the quilt ...

And the back

Now if there's one thing I've learned from making this quilt it's that stacked "coins" (still don't get why they're called that), and a bit of white sashing make for a very satisfying and quite speedy quilt. Oh and one more thing I've learned is that I need to do a machine quilting class, STAT!

For more creative spaces head on over to Kirsty's place.

p.s. I seem to have missed out on my first Bloggy Birthday! It was back at the end of February but I guess I was so busy packing that I completely forgot about it. Anyway watch this space because I'm amassing a few bits and pieces to do a "better-late-than-never" first birthday giveaway!

snippets of the holiday that was

2010-03-22T13:17:00.000+11:00

Slide night here ...

half full, or half empty?

2010-02-28T14:22:00.000+11:00

So? Which one are you? Is the glass half full or half empty in your world?

Because you know it occurred to me on our last family holiday that I am a glass half empty kinda gal after always thinking I was an optimistic glass half full.

But you know what? I'm ok with that. I actually think there are advantages to being a glass half empty person. I mean it's obvious really isn't it: there's space in my glass!

So when the ski-mad Mr suggests that we cart ourselves, two small children and three tonnes of equipment half way around the world to chase the snow, I just sigh and point out all the difficult bits knowing all the while that I have space in my glass. If I put on my pessimist hat and prepare for the absolute WORST then I am bound to be pleasantly surprised right?

Well, I'm not sure but we are almost packed and we fly out tomorrow so I will keep you posted!

p.s Earlier in the week I had just cause to make that glass at the top completely EMPTY when I realised my wedding AND engagement rings were MISSING! Being a glass half-empty person I am certain they are gone forever (imagine my excitement when they do actually turn up! Not that they will...).

p.p.s The awesome PottyMouthMama threw down the challenge earlier in the week to ask her ANYTHING! In one of my glass half empty panics I asked for tips on long haul travel with children. Friends, she did not disappoint. If you are at all contemplating such a journey, can I tell you you're mad and then highly recommend her extensive list of suggestions. Not that any of them will work of course (see that? Glass half empty!) but like I said, I'll keep you posted ...

The Giving Tree

2010-02-20T12:48:00.002+11:00

"Once there was a tree ...

and she loved a little boy (and a girl!),

and everyday the boy (and girl!), would come and (s)he would gather her leaves and make them into crowns and play king of the forest.

He would climb up her trunk and swing from her branches ..."*

This beautiful big old frangipani tree has been providing hours of fun at out place lately. I love that no matter how many toys and games there are laying about, the tree seems to be getting first look in upon waking in the morning and whenever we arrive home after being out. Perhaps it also has something to do with being able to spy on the big dog next door from a safe height.

My sister, Clare in a spot of vintage tree climbing in Brisbane circa late 70's. She has been using this photo (among others) to showcase her resin jewellery.

When was the last time you climbed a tree?

* "The Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein 1964

my creative space ... green tiles :: final

2010-02-18T14:59:00.002+11:00

"With every passing of the needle the pain of loss bit and began to ease." *

The green tiles quilt was finished on January 1, but only now do I feel ready to write about it.

Way back in June when we lost our little one, it occurred to me to make a quilt. At the time a friend said, "But that will take you ages." And this was the whole point. I wanted to have something to labour over and I didn't mind if it took until the baby's expected due date.

As it turned out it took longer than that but I think it needed to. At times I would find myself rushing and would need to gently remind myself that it was not a race. I trusted then that I would know when it was time for the final stitch.

And I did.

For more creative spaces hop on over to Kirsty's place.

___________________________________________________________________

In making this quilt I have so many people to thank. Firstly, Kate who I emailed for advice on where to start. She in turn put me on to the Fresh Modern Quilt group where I was inspired by a beautiful quilt by Rita, whom I had yet to find in the blogosphere. When I emailed Rita to ask her permission to use her quilt as inspiration she not only gave me her blessing, she sent me a beautiful package of fabrics, some of which were actually used in the quilt.

I also want to thank Kathy from Material Obsession. Poor Kathy got me at my rawest at the quilt show last June just days after the miscarriage. But she made me laugh and sent me on my way with her book and the offer of help if ever I needed it. I did and she was there as promised. It was also Kathy's suggestion that I hand quilt. I think she knew before I did that I needed to s-l-o-w down!

And for all the amazing, warm, beautiful, kind, awesome-ness that came in the form of comments and emails and cards and packages from YOU! People I had never 'met' in person but who comforted and inspired me more than I can ever express. Thank you, thank you, a million times thank you!

*(Alden, 2003 as quoted in Grief Unseen: Healing Pregnancy Loss Through the Arts by Laura Seftel)

my creative space :: finally!

2010-02-11T17:14:00.000+11:00

I got to craft a toy for a fellow crafter's child! Hooray! No worrying about whether the parents might think I was being stingy, safe in the knowledge that I know she knows, you know?

This cute little guy ("blossom bunny"), was from softies and gave me the opportunity to try out satin stitch, backstitch, blanket stitch and a few failed attempts at french knots. I think he was the perfect size for an active little one-year-old's grip.

For more creative spaces pop over to the hostess with the mostest, Kirsty.

run

2010-02-10T11:59:00.003+11:00

For the past few weeks I have been making the most of longer daylight hours by popping on the joggers and pounding the pavement once the Mr gets home in the evening. All day I fight the voice in my head that says, "Not tonight. I'm too tired", and like a robot I just put on the gear and walk out the door figuring it's at least thirty minutes of "me" time.

And once I'm out there, head phones semi in place (why can't those little buggers just stay in?), well, I just feel free. I like walking but the bit where I break into - what should only loosely be described as - a jog is just liberating I guess. It's a moment when I feel so thankful to have the use of my legs, to be healthy, to live in a climate that allows me to do this outdoors, to feel pretty safe (I'm still always alert!), and to feel strong again after two (and a third) pregnancies.

And of course a few good tunes don't go astray in lifting my spirits.

In case you're interested I have been following this program* suggested to me by a friend in New York who has done the NY Marathon TWICE! Not that that's a goal for me but still, she knows her stuff!

* I feel I should add something here about checking with your Doctor before you get all inspired and dash out for a run. But you know that right?

p.s And yes, I am a complete loser taking photos of myself while jogging but it's a big deal for me to be doing ANY form of exercise people so just indulge me ;)

ETA: Just popped over to visit my 'ol mate Tania at Myrtle & Eunice to find a post about running! Great minds I tell you ;)

my place and yours :: what's in your bag?

2010-02-07T20:48:00.001+11:00

It's taken me awhile to get my act together in time to join my place and yours since it moved to it's new home at Punky & Me but this week's theme was a hard one for me. On the one hand it gave me an opportunity to spill open the contents of the handbag and give it a good clean out and on the other it gave you an opportunity to see what an utter PIG I really am!

Anyhow here it is in all it's unedited glory

Actually that's not true. I did leave all that weird grit and crumbs and god-knows-what that was at the bottom in the bag. I'll face that another day.

Highlights for me were finding that in fact I have TWO pens in my bag which is weird since I can never find one and three lip balms. Also I love my new little Harrod's eco-bag. Yes that is an oxymoron but it's come in handy I tell you.

Low lights? Realising I had three pairs of socks in there. My socks mind you as well as one odd sock of Sienna's. Also finding a half eaten mueseli bar and a bit of old banana bread that'd seen better days.

So there you have it. I've shown you mine now you show me yours. Actually whizz over to Vic's place and show her first ;)

p.s the weird looking black stuff in the zip lock bag is actually dried fruit but, you know, without the preservatives so it's ok that it looks like that!

my creative space :: the highs and lows

2010-02-04T11:49:00.002+11:00

Well, you just never know where your creative space may be. Mine has been a bit topsy turvy this week.

One day I was comfy at home making stacks for a coin quilt (with a little help)

At the weekend I even managed a spare few hours to baste that quilt (three times mind you because I got it horribly wrong the first two!)

And then without much warning a runny nose for Luca quickly turned into difficulty breathing which led to an ambulance ride to hospital and an overnight stay.

The little man is still sick but is on the mend. And in the meantime I am sooo grateful I learned a more portable craft

Perfect for waiting rooms and paediatric wards!

I hope your creative space finds you healthy this week. For more creative spaces with hopefully slightly less mucous, head on over to Kirsty's place.

my creative space :: before, during and ... during

2010-01-28T15:31:00.004+11:00

Crazy days of Christmas crafting left the creative space looking a tad ... unloved

(and a wee bit yellow due to poor light - sorry!)

Inspired by a series on organising your craft space on a recent WhipUp newsletter and aided by the presence of my Dad, who, unlike the Mr always jumps at my suggestions that, "perhaps that would look better over there" (he is, after all, a Virgo), we got cracking on moving and shaking things up a bit ...

And so after only half an hour of furniture moving but many many more of tossing, arranging, organising we've ended up with this so far:

A space for little people*

A space for ... stuff

A space for ... more stuff

A space for fabric. But man oh man, look a those neglected fabric stacks!

Enter a rainy Saturday afternoon ...

Ahhh that's better!

Now to organise a few more corners and clear the sewing table.

Watch this space ... oh but while you're waiting pop on over to Kirsty's for the return of my creative space for 2010!

*What say you of sharing a crafty space/studio/sewing room (should you be blessed with a designated space) with children? For or against? I'm interested in your thoughts ...

crochet throw completed!

2010-01-24T16:40:00.005+11:00

Well, kind of ...

Fi Fi likes it anyway ;)

And another notch on my handmade gifts belt (I did take the pledge after all), the lovely "Polly" from the first softies book.

I love her cheeky little grin. And a little matching bag for wrapping

All the (surprisingly and refreshingly), non-pink fabric was chosen by Sienna who insisted the birthday girl's favourite colour was orange. I had cause to doubt this when;

1. the invitations were pink
2. the birthday girl was dressed head to toe in pink-ness
3. the birthday girl took one look at Polly and all but threw her in the bin ...

Oh well. Secretly I like to think she found her again late last night after she'd grown bored of all the pink stuff and decided she needed something soft and lovingly handmade to snuggle up to!

embracing my inner nanna

2010-01-15T20:47:00.000+11:00

Well friends this week I have traded in the ra-ra skirt, bad make-up and Wayfarers for a [crocheted] shawl, the circle-in-a-square pattern, various yarns from my travels and my trusty hook.

On Wednesday night the lovely Kate ever so patiently sat and taught me pretty much everything I needed to know to get cracking on my circles-in-squares.

Now I'm not sure if it was wise to pretty much insist that Kate teach me to crochet seen as how it was the first time we'd met and all. Let's just say there was many sleep-deprived, blonde, vacant, "Whaaaa's that again?" coming from me and nothing but cool, calm repetitive patience coming from Kate!

Anyway here's where I am at so far

Tonnes of mistakes I know but good lord it was fun! All the yarn is from Wolle Roedel in Germany apart from the white yarn bordering the second square which is an old Zara Italian wool from Tapestry Craft (so much for supporting the Australian Wool Industry there *ahem*)

And as luck would have it Pip is cranking up the Granny A Day again over at Meet Me at Mikes. So c'mon, grab your hook, your cuppa, a nice bickie and let us all embrace our inner nanna's! You know you want to ...

Now, for a nice little nap.

(p.s did you SEE how many links I got into this post? I was a cutting and pasting fool I tell you! Did you click on any of them?)

the good, the bad and the just plain ugly

2010-01-11T16:28:00.007+11:00

:: the good ::

new beginnings that bring with them fresh stationary. Like the first day of school with new supplies ;)

gifts that arrive in the mail after Christmas and make boring tasks like drying the dishes so much funkier

a stack of books and all the promise they hold ... should I get time to read them

time to test out the equipment from Santa

time spent with good friends ...

... learning things

... and eating things

:: the bad ::

this heat. And that's all I'll say about that.

my computer finally dying and taking with it one year's worth of unbacked-up music and six months worth of unbacked-up photographs. Including Christmas photos. *sniff*

:: the ugly ::

The 80's. Apart from the music that is. Were there no natural fibres at all?*

Here's hoping you've had more good than bad (or ugly) so far this new year!

* my friend Antonia and I don't regularly go out looking like this ... except when we have a 80's inspired 40th birthday to go to. Or sometimes to go shopping ...

a little bit late and a little bit early

2009-12-31T08:58:00.000+11:00

Wow. Christmas. What a wild ride that was. I had planned on sharing all the handmade stuff I was up crazily sewing, sticking, stuffing, stitching until the wee small hours but it all seems a bit late now! And also I forgot to take photos of most of it as we raced out the door on to the next Chrissy gathering.

I did thankfully take five minutes to snap some shots of this project. A beach blanket for my friend Antonia who visits the beach EVERY DAY with her little fella Max. Thankfully I started this a few months ago when I got my hands on a copy of Handmade Home by Amanda Blake Soule.

The backing is a fairly sturdy old table cloth and the front is made up of pillowcases all sourced from my local Vinnie's. You gotta love that. All sewn together with some store bought binding. In fact I think the binding was the most costly part!

And because my friend loves red (and I couldn't find any red pillowcases) and because she is a passionate advocate for choosing only organic and locally grown produce I couldn't resist adding this

A little scrap of fabric I purchased from Aunty Cookie way back at the Finders Keepers markets in May. See it pays to go through your entire stash sometimes ... especially when it all comes crashing to the ground in a massive pile when attempting to extract a bit right at the bottom of one of the towers!

So that's the late bit. The early bit is to get in and say a very Happy New Year to you and your family. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't happy to be seeing the back of this year. Onward and upward and all that. Having said that this is the year that I started this blog, sat down at a sewing machine again and 'met' all of you! And wow, where would I be without this amazing community. A whole lot lonelier that's for sure!

I don't do new year's resolutions. The last one I made, to become a gym junkie with the hope of looking like Sporty Spice, went so far astray I figured they were best left un-resolved! But I do like to make suggestions to myself for how I might live and love better ... and I might share them in the New Year!

In the meantime perhaps you would like to share yours? I'd love to hear your plans for 2010!

Clinking my cyber glass with you all. Catch you on the other side!

due date

2009-12-20T09:59:00.001+11:00

When this happens there are so few 'concrete' things to hold on to. What I have is a stick with two purple lines, a birth centre card with one entry, a blurry six-week scan showing a heart beat that wasn't there six weeks later and an almost finished green tiles quilt.

And I had a due date.

And so it was yesterday that I awoke and the tears that I manage to hold on to most days just flowed as if I had already previously given myself some kind of permission that today it was ok to cry.

We went to the beach and we had lunch and it was in actual fact a lovely family day in an otherwise busy and chaotic time. And I couldn't help feeling all day like it would have been a beautiful day to have my summer baby.

my creative space and sunday stash all rolled in to one

2009-12-13T22:10:00.002+11:00

It is my firm belief that most people want to do something to help others but often it is hard to know where to start. That's where people like Pip at Meet Me at Mike's come in and mobilise us mere mortals into action! For the third year running Pip has called on the crafty community to get stitching (knitting, crocheting whatever) to create softie's for the Mirabel Foundation.

So, thanks to a beautiful parcel from Leonie of some off-white cotton fabric that wasn't quite right for her (this is the Sunday Stash bit),

and a tried and true pattern from the Meet Me at Mike's book I managed to find a few pockets of time during the week to come up with this fella

Good 'ol Zing the Cat. Perhaps looking slightly more sunburnt than I had envisaged but Luca did say "cat" when he saw it and really, a two-year-old is going to be your toughest critic ... except for the Mr who said he kinda looked like the devil *sigh*. You can see lots of other super cute Softie's for Mirabel here.

In my last post I mentioned it had been my Mum's 60th birthday. For months I have been making Mum a quilt and it wasn't until just before I went overseas that I finally admitted defeat and realised I would be giving Mum a quilt top at best. And that is what she got.

Loosely based on the cowboy pinwheel quilt from Material Obsession One only with slightly less cowboys ... actually none.

Some lessons learned through the making of this quilt:

1. Do not ever attempt pinwheels EVER AGAIN!

2. Do not choose fabric you think the person is going to like because far out, it makes the pinwheels even harder to construct when you yourself don't love the fabric you're working with!

But hey, at the end of the day she seemed genuinely happy and really that was the aim ;)

my place and yours :: wherever I lay my hat, that's my home

2009-12-08T14:28:00.001+11:00

Once again I am taking liberties with the term "Saturday" by posting this on a "Tuesday". But after a busy weekend celebrating my Mum's 60th Birthday (more on that later), I didn't get time to link in with this weeks "My place and yours .." but by gee, it's such a good one this week and by one of my favouritest bloggers, Tania, so how could I resist ...

So the theme is/was "Wherever I lay my hat, that's my home" - from Tania's blog,

"What are the treasures in your house that signify ‘home’? Is there anything that reminds you of a childhood, a life overseas, a loved one? "

Well, apart from the Mr and kids, who of course make anywhere feel like home (what with all the cooking and washing and nappy changing), I was surprised that there are really only two "things" that I could find that fit the bill ...

A painting by Minnie Pwerle given to me as a gift from my Mum, Dad and sister a few years ago. It was quite literally the only time in my life I have been speechless. I needed to be scraped off the floor such was my utter astonishment and delight. Being relatively new, it has only graced two walls so far but I know it would be the first thing to go up when we move again signifying we are "home".

Ok. Tania did it, so will I. This is Brissy. So named after the town I was born in and was mercilessly ripped away from in the prime of my life*, just when I found myself surrounded by the most awesome bunch of friends**. That bunch of friends threw me an excellent not-so-surprise-going-away-party where I was gifted this bloke. At the time he sported a blue satin ribbon and still had most of his facial features.

Over the years he has fitted very neatly into the crook of my arm while I attempt to sleep (crazy insomniac I am), and acted as a very nice wedge between the "girls" when laying on my side during my pregnancies (I seem to morph into Dolly Parton at the first whiff of being with child. Too much information?). I keep saying that I will gladly hand him over as soon as any of the kids decide they can't live without him, but since that hasn't happened yet I shall continue to nudge him into place each evening***.

So there you have it. Two quite different items I guess but two items I would struggle without ;)

For more of these stories nip on over to Pip's place.

* fourteen - you can imagine the pain
** two of whom read this blog and are probably falling over themselves that TWENTY ONE years later (yes, really) I still have this bear!
*** whilst I don't take Brissy on any long haul journeys, though I have seriously considered it, I do find space for him on overnight trips. I have tried without and it's just not the same. Have Brissy, will sleep that kind of thing.

my creative space ... and the winner is ...

2009-12-03T13:42:00.005+11:00

Well folks here it is ... if your computer has not melted at the sheer photographic weight of this post while it loaded up then you are about to see proof that you can indeed take a crochet hook on a plane! Yes, the hosties may do a double take or two as they pass you by but not once was I questioned about my hook! Woo hoo! And so I give you ...

Double, Double Hook and Travel!

preparing for take off on board QF6 bound for Frankfurt

nanna took a break to enjoy a cuppa and a bickie (I did contemplate doing the tim tam slam but didn't want to draw even more attention to myself)

the perfect way to unwind in yet another German hotel room after a busy days site seeing

the city centre of Stuttgart

in the beautiful town of Heidelberg

on our way back to Frankfurt. The perfect way to avert one's eyes from the scary stuff happening on the autobarn.

back on another flight (made it through another checkpoint!) bound for London

need I describe this one? The sausages were on their way ...

trying to get the Queen's attention.

The Tower of London

Ah and the best bit ... meeting a kindred crocheting spirit along the Portobello Rd!

A massive "thank you" to all the entries in my naming competition. By god they made me laugh! In the end I found it too hard to pick a winner so handed it over to my beautiful friend Antonia, who picked the above title by the gorgeous Christina ! Congratulations Christina! Can't wait to send of the parcel of goodies.

Now for more creative spaces pop on by Kirsty's place ;)

sunday* stash #8

2009-11-30T08:55:00.001+11:00

Are you good at delaying gratification?

Oh dear ...

Oh my ...

Well, with the exchange rate being what it is at the moment, how was I meant to resist? I had my first Liberty store experience with the lovely Alison . Armed with her currency converter Alison was the ultimate enabler. Mind you I now wish she had pressed me to buy more!

For more stashers head on over to Tam's place.

And speaking of Liberty, don't forget to enter my giveaway and you can win some as well as some other stuff.

*Hmmm stretching the bounds of "Sunday" I guess but I figure allowing for my jet lag it's still Sunday somewhere in the world ... and in my body

young blood

2009-11-28T21:07:00.000+11:00

Hey!

Just a quickie to say that if you happen to be near the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney tomorrow (Sunday), and you're in need of some very cool stuff for Chrissy presents then look no further than the Young Blood Designers Markets.

If you were there in August and were freaked out by the crowds have no fear: they have moved inside the main exhibition centre and spill out into the playground and cafe area.

And here's the shameless plug: my sister Clare has a stall there ...

Here's a photo of our Mum unbeknownst to her at the time, sporting one of Clare's resin creations (you can see more here).

my creative space ... is having a giveaway!

2009-11-26T12:50:00.000+11:00

Oh I know I know it's shameless to use Kirsty's meme to get yet another post in about this but this time I have actual photographic proof that loot will be given away!

Now, if you didn't see my last post (and you can't be bothered clicking on that link or this one or this one *) then you may have missed that this little giveaway of mine is centred around finding a name for the adventures of me and my crochet hook (or is that my crochet hook and I?), on our recent travels. Such was my sheer astonishment that the hook made it through all the airport security checks that I decided I better chronicle our adventures together.

So here's the deal: If you can think of a name that might sum up the travels of a girl and her crochet hook through Germany and the UK, then let me have it and you may well end up with all this stuff that I picked up on my travels!

(more details of what it all is here )

There's more actually but it's still in transit from Germany**. I was also planning on adding the actual crocheted item (a somewhat lumpy face cloth) but that will depend if it's finished in time!

You can enter via my original post (and a massive thanks to all those who have entered so far. I actually snorted tea out my nose at the airport when I read them), or in the comments for this post and I will choose a winner next Wednesday 2 December and publish my "official" crochet hook adventure post with the winning title the following day.

Now, for some real creative spaces where people are actually making stuff pop in on Kirsty's place ;)

* all those links go to the same 'ol page
** Too much stuff, bag too small. You know how it is.

my creative space ... needs a name ... and that's where you come in!

2009-11-12T21:29:00.001+11:00

Ok I am just popping my head up briefly from my digs in sunny (not) but beautiful Stuttgart to let you all know that the crochet hook I mentioned I might try to bring with me here made it through all the relevant checkpoints and is by my side as I type!

I am not going to go into any more details now because I am planning to do a bit of a trip synopsis of the 'ol crochet hook upon my return ... and that's where you come in!

I'm after a name or title for the adventures of my hook and I as we make our way through Germany and the UK. And seen as how I am up to about post 99 I'm also thinking a giveaway could be in order upon my return. Not sure what that might involve at this moment but it's bound to contain lots of little goodies from my trip.

So if you can conjure up a name/title which you think might describe the adventures of this girl and her crochet hook before you actually get to see the adventures (it's tricky but you guys are crafty, I know) then hit me with your best shot and you'll be in with a chance at winning ... something.

Trip on over to Kirsty's for some no doubt warmer and less hotel orientated creative spaces.

Edited to add: Sorry, I should have added that there is NO RUSH! I won't be writing of our adventures until my return (in a week or so).

shocking

2009-11-03T20:12:00.001+11:00

... is how I would describe day seven of solo parenting. Oh and I think there was some thingo down in Melbourne today involving a horse named Shocking as well.

Not that I'm a betting person but if Luca's tips were anything to go by he seemed to think the race would be won by the only female jockey (sporting slightly large boots), with an elderly woman riding a cow coming a close second.

Also utterly shocking (and I mean S-H-O-C-K-I-N-G) was the heat in Sydney today. I have it on good authority* that the mercury reached 39.2 degrees C (102.6 F)! I know I said somewhere a while back that I was really going to try and embrace summer this time around but it's really hard to embrace anything other than a glass of ice water in this heat.

And actually it's not even summer yet! Yeesh!

Having said that I did embrace - from afar - a moment of summer-ness in the backyard this afternoon

A spot of nudie strawberry eating in the wading pool.

Oh and I have also just now, at 7:30 pm, embraced the still warm washing from the line. Which I hung out at 4pm.

Shocking I tell you.

* the ABC weather man and he seems a trustworthy bloke

my place and yours :: blog HQ

2009-10-31T14:05:00.000+11:00

Playing along with Pip again this week. This week's theme queen was Tania from Ninon .

So here it is.

My blog HQ is wherever I can find a clear surface to put the lappy ... usually that is actually my lap but sometimes I manage to steal away a few moments in the kitchen - when small people think I am doing something else - to check in on my favourites.

The laptop is great - you can check in anywhere without having to worry about having a designated spot for all the computer paraphernalia. BUT ... the drawback is it is just how easy and available it is to dip in and out of. And so I find myself dipping in and out all day. And that's probably not such a good thing.

Anyhow a few items to mention that happened to be in my bloggy HQ today and found their way in to the photograph - some new Moleskin journals I bought today for a little project I have in mind, my favourite teapot filled with my current favourite tea (T2's Brisbane Breakfast), a few of the kids art supplies and a couple of overripe banana's I keep trying to press on the kids.

Ok and admittedly I did nudge the book into the shot. It's Cautionary Tales for Boys and Girls and we just found it this morning. Have you seen it? It's hilariously funny and features some excellent renditions of softies as the characters of the tales. Cautionary and artistic. Excellent.

Head on over to Pip's place to check out some more Blog HQ's.

my creative space ... is leaving on a jet plane*

2009-10-29T13:16:00.005+11:00

(image via)

Well I did intend on writing a post last night about how incredibly hard it is to do a long stretch of solo parenting, and how much I totally take my hat off to people who do it full time, BUT I was so damn tired last night because of the solo parenting that I just couldn't put anything in to words.

So instead here I find myself only blogging when there is another meme to join in on.

BUT I do have a pressing question which you, the crafty community via Kirsty's place, might have an answer to ...

What on earth kind of craft can you do on a plane these days?

Knitting? Probably not. Those knitting needles have quite pointy tips. Hand quilting or embroidery? A no-brainer for the "NO" category really considering how sharp those needles are (and whilst comforting, probably not really practical to cart a massive quilt around).

And so I wondered about crochet? Does that little bent end turn it from being a scary weapon with which one would be capable of hijacking a plane (?) into a harmless crafty tool with which one can wile away the hours on a long haul flight?

Yes folks, I believe I am ready to branch out to the world of crochet having been completely inspired by the likes of Melanie, Tania, Tam, Kate and .... I could go on and on. So I splashed out and bought a hook at the recent Spotlight sale and figured - if it's ok with Qantas - I might just indulge in a spot of crochet whilst being held captive in an economy seat for over 20 hours**.

I'd be very interested (like, very interested) to hear any stories or suggestions you may have for in flight craftiness!

Hey we could create a new mile high club for crafters - or not ;)

Fly on over to Kirsty's place for some more creative spaces ... that are more than likely on land.

* at the end of the week and a half of solo parenting I will be joining the Mr, *gulp* sans children, in Germany and then the UK ... actually probably just London.

** admittedly, the idea of sitting on my backside with nothing else to do but read, watch movies, nap and (hopefully), craft for over 20 hours is the part of the trip I am looking forward to the most.