I wish.....

Look at all this prettiness. I love these photos. I got them from an online shop (think it's english) that I found via Allsorts. I wish these were photos of my house. Pretty, simple and sparse. Not sure I could actually live like this (I seem to be the queen of stuff). What is it with accumulation these days?
I keep buying magazines that say "Great Storage Solutions" on the front, when I really should be throwing stuff away. I love this bed, and there is no storage solution under it!

What a sweet desk. Of course, it's not covered with papers which is how my desk is. I know that these are just photos in a shop and no-one lives there, but that's how I would like my home to look!

I have the book and the white table and I want the house too! This is one of my goals for 2008. I seem to have a lot of goals for 2008.

• 52 articles of clothing in 2008
• 6 knitted items in 2008
• 6 completed quilts in 2008
• 1 pretty, simple, sparse home in 2008
• 1 etsy shop open and filled with good things in 2008

My list keeps growing as the year moves on! Who can believe that January is nearly over? Anyway, this is how my goals stand so far. All doable I think. Roll on February, I've got things to do.

30 Days of the Everyday : No. 21

I love white roses.

30 Days of the Everyday : No. 20

President Gordon B. Hinckley, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Prophet, Seer, and Revelator died Sunday night at 7pm (Salt Lake time).

30 Days of the Everyday : No. 19

Today, I am even older. This is what my day has in store for me. A flurry of sewing to celebrate my 44th birthday Who knew I'd ever be this old?

30 Days of the Everyday : No. 18

Miss 10 turned magically into Miss 11. "You're older than you've ever been, and now you're even older, and now you're even older." They Might Be Giants.

30 Days of the Everyday : No. 17

Roseanne-athon happening.

30 Days of the Everyday : No. 16

Domino couch and fireplace. Building.

Quilt top finished!

The lovely Miss 15 took this photo for me. She is such a help. And "Yes!" I do realise that the light is dreadful, but it's night time and I really wanted to show you the finished article. Yesterday I made 28 blocks and today I made the rest and put it all together. The centers of the blocks are from the American Jane Look and Learn collection (from Australian Jane's shop the patchwork apple ) and the black and whites are from spotlight. Mrs 23 (picklesticks) loves this collection so this quilt is going to be for her offspring.

Miss 15 got all creative with the photography! I kind of made this top up as I went along. Next I will piece the back. I love pieced backs! They are my favourite way to back a quilt. Piecing is my favourite part of the quilt process, so why not have twice as much fun for the same quilt? I have some ideas for the back, but will probably let them stew for a while before deciding which idea to develop. Yep! Look at the top and stew those ideas!

30 Days of the Everyday : No. 15

Seed pods on a hot day.

Crazy Mom Quilts this one's for you!

I surf around on the web a lot and just lately my favourites have been quilting blogs. I love Amandajean's blog Crazy Mom Quilts. She is "crazy" for quilting. She not only makes heaps of quilt tops, she also produces finished quilts! I quite often visit her site and comment that she is inspirational, and as I did that last week I began to think about the word inspirational. If I was truely inspired I would do something about it. So an idea formed in my mind. These are the blocks that I sewed today. (Let me just add that Amandajean wouldn't show such a measly progress photo, but this is me!) Amandajean also has quilt-alongs with detailed photos. It's a great blog!

Today was a jammie day for me. I just didn't feel well so I decided to spend the day sewing. I wanted only to do frivolous sewing, hence the patchwork. It was great and I want to do the same tomorrow!!!

30 Days of the Everyday : No. 14

Artful photo of an artichoke. Everytime I look at it I see a baby dinosaur! A happy, smiling dinosaur.

Magazines

I love magazines. I especially love to look at houses. I like to look at interiors magazines, decorating magazines, and even floor plan magazines. I'm not sure if this addiction has anything to do with the fact that our house is not "finished". Maybe it does and if we finished the house I'd never buy another magazine again....... Nah! I'd still buy them! I love to dream about what I'd do to our house. My big problem is that I can't make my mind up about how I'd like our house to be. I love the cottage look and shabby chic and modern country and the Scandinavian look and to mish/mash all that together would be gross! Hmm..... back to the magazines.

30 Days of the Everyday : No. 13

I love lemons. I love them best straight off the tree.

Another skirt

Yes, I sewed another of those skirts designed by Miss 17.

I also repaired Mr 19's work trousers that he managed to tear. I love being able to fix things. Mr 7 had a couple of pairs of jeans with huge holes in the knees. He came up with idea to cut them off and turn them into shorts. He really loves the resulting shorts. I had a little time this evening to do some cutting out too. Hopefully I will get some more sewing done tomorrow!

30 Days of the Everyday : No. 12

Laptop at night when the kids are in bed and the house is quiet.

30 Days of the Everyday : No. 11

Sunday at church.

30 Days of the Everyday : No. 10

Miss 10 spent today at a basketball training camp. With children who play, coach and referee this is very much an everyday sight for me.

No organising, but some knitting!

As you can tell from my thirty days of the everyday I have not been at home this week. On Sunday afternoon my Bradley said, "Do you want to come to Naracoorte with me for a couple of days?" I thought it would be fun because he organised for Miss 17 and Mr 19 to look after the kids while we (well, I really, cause Brad had to work) had a little break. We left on Sunday evening and pitched our tent just as it was becoming dark. One of the first things I noticed coming in to Naracoorte was this brilliant Aussie flag painted on the roof of the local scout hall. It was obviously done quite some time ago, but I just loved it. The scout hall was across the road from the caravan park we stayed in, so I got to look at it lots and lots!


While we were in Naracoorte Brad's work increased and we even had to go to Mt Gambier. I spent lots of time knitting. Knitting, exploring and sleeping were my 3 big main events this week! I finally managed to finish this baby singlet! I took this photo of it out the front of our tent. I wanted to show off my new knitting bag I got from Woolies in Naracoorte too! This is a tiny singlet, but it took me ages to finish it. I don't think I'm up to knitting jumpers yet!!!

Naracoorte has a community swimming lake. How cool is that? I believe that it is chlorinated and ranges from shallows to deep spots. It has pontoons stretching out into it. While we were there they had a lifeguard on duty. Heaps of people used it - even at night. AND, it was free. I was blown away by this amazing community resource.

Everything was so green in Naracoorte and Mt Gambier. Such a contrast to Adelaide! Whilst Brad was in his meeting in Mt Gambier I went to Umpherston cave. (After I had checked out all the fabric and quilting and yarn shops I could find, of course!) The last time I was there was about 17 years ago, cause Miss 17 was just a baby! I walked down into the cave (OK. It used to be a cave, but a long time ago the roof came off - gradually I guess - and now it's a sinkhole.) and sprained my ankle. Really badly. I was carrying my lovely lump of six month old babiness and fell awkwardly because I was trying to save her - which I did, fortunately! The sinkhole has wonderful gardens around it and in it. They also have a brilliant bbq and shade/picnic tables area too. I spent quite some time there knitting!

They have lots of trailing plants that grow down into the sinkhole.
It's a lovely place to spend time. So, next time you are in Mt Gambier make sure to stop there for lunch! So, I spent most of the week lazing around. It was a good week. I'd like to do the same next week, but I guess it's back to the organising.

30 Days of the Everyday : No 9

Ahhh..... Home again. Our one and a half days turned into four days. More and more work kept appearing for Bradley and you can't say no to work.

30 Days of the Everyday : No. 8

Still in Naracoorte! We took a quick trip to Mt Gambier for Bradley to attend a meeting. It's just a short 100 (or so) kilometer hop.

30 Days of the Everyday : No. 7

Still in Naraoorte. (Still?) The caravan park we stayed in had birds. Ok, that didn't sound right. The caravan park didn't "have" the birds. There were just birds there. Loud birds. Loud birds who loved to be their loudest from 5am - 10am and then again at 6pm - 9pm. In the day (when I was supposed to be awake) they were napping. Like this.

30 Days of the Everyday : No. 6

Still in Naracoorte. In a tent. (Bradley is crazy for tents and camping.)

30 Days of the Everyday : No. 5

Sunday afternoon the love of my life said, "I have one and a half days of business in Naracoorte, want to come?" I said, "Yes!" So, 335 kilometers later we were in Naracoorte. Aussie flag on the roof of the scout hall. I love it!

Yesterday at the Park

We decided to go for a picnic yesterday afternoon. We went to one of our favourite parks, The Gums. (Okay, we love them all!) The weather has decided to be reasonable for a couple of days (26 degrees celcius!) so we thought we would get out in it! It was a beautiful day. We ate lunch (sandwiches we had made before we left) and then the kids played, listened to music, and took photos, depending on their age! Bradley and I watched them and joined in, and I knitted too. I'm still working on that baby singlet. I'm not a very fast knitter!

It was so shady and wonderful at the Gums! This week I want to sew and knit and get more organised. I see so many people getting organised as I surf the net at the moment. It is so inspiring! Hopefully there will be more crafty posts this week!

30 Days of the Everyday : No. 4

There's an awful lot of photo taking at our house. At the park you can hardly get a shot without someone else's camera getting in the way!

30 Days of the Everyday : No. 3

This is the view I wake up to each morning. I love this cabinet that we bought from a secondhand shop.

30 Days of the Everyday : No. 2

I've been looking at fans a lot lately. Yesterday was 43 degrees celcius at my house. Too hot. I went in the pool twice in an effort to keep cool. Our pool was 34 degrees at 9:30pm last night. The whole family went in which thrilled my younger kids. They declared it was a "family activity" (meaning you have to participate) and we should do it every night. Some of us didn't get out until after 11pm.

30 days of the everyday : No. 1

Washing Machine Panorama

I saw this over at Mikes and thought it would possibly be fun, and definitely be interesting to join in. Others who are planning to join in left comments, and now I know I'm weird! They talked about enjoying the sound of silence. It's just not me. I know a picture is worth a thousand words, but think just how much more valuable it would be enhanced with extra words from me! Washing is one of my everyday things. I love my washing machine. With 8 people living in our home it gets a real workout and never complains. Various segments of the washing are shared out between family members so it isn't a chore to me, which I am grateful for! The photo is a little small, but it is my first experiment with my "panorama" software!

Decluttering Skirts

During our decluttering we came across some skirts that my daughter designed and cut out last summer. She finished one, but these were left at different stages. So today, in an effort to beat the 39 degree celcius heat I sat in front of a fan and sewed these two skirts.


Miss 17 is the designer. Miss 15 cut them out and Miss 17 was the seamstress. They are about the same size so collaborating made sense. (They routinely share clothes anyway) Since then Miss 17 has done very little sewing and Miss 15 has become a softie queen!


Last summer before Christmas they were desperate for clothes, but generous gift givers gave them cash and coupons for Christmas and so the desperation passed. The brown and blue skirt is the universal favourite. The fabric is wonderful! So soft and swooshy. Neither of them really likes pink that much. (Sorry Barbie!)

Leafy Sea Dragon

I think that's what it is. It's a photo I took at the airport and I guess it's something that is uniquely, or unmistakably Adelaidian (we live in Adelaide, Australia). Seven years ago we lived near the beach and one morning when our family was wandering along the beach my son found a Leafy Sea Dragon on the sand. He took it home, despite his mother's protests, and hung it up in our large and spacious shed where it dried out and eventually even stopped smelling! Boy do we miss the beach! Not that we lived on the foreshore. We were just closer to the beach then (15min drive). Of course, we're a lot safer from Tsunamis now..........(You've got to look on the bright side, don't you?)


There has been very little crafting lately. I did finish the front of the singlet I'm knitting, but it's all curly and very difficult to photograph! I have spent most of my time de-cluttering. It's all part of my New Year's word, "Simplify".( See the Cherry Menlove Forum) I'm trying to simplify my life in all areas. This week holds more knitting and more decluttering. Hopefully I will get some good shots to show you.

Snow for some!

Friday 39 degrees. Saturday 40 degrees. Just when I thought I would melt I got an email from Miss 21 with photos showing her playing in snow! Nicolette commented on my blog recently and said she found the difference in seasons we experience hard to realise. I have the exact same feeling. I actually did feel cooler looking at my daughter playing in the snow.


The last couple of days I haven't done much at all. I have had a headache, which tends to hang around longer when it's hot. I started some knitting yesterday. I've decided I'm a knitter afterall. I'm knitting a singlet from a layette. If it goes well I will knit some more for that winter baby Mrs 23 is expecting. Wish me luck! ( I suck at knowing where I'm up to in a pattern!)

Airport again!

For someone who hasn't flown for 16 years I sure spend a lot of time at the airport! Last night we went to pick up Mr 19. He had a fun time and was a little loathe to get back to "the real world" as he put it. He started work this morning at 5am so reality hit with a bang!


Over the past few days I have been making pinafores for Mrs 23. Here she is modelling her favourite. She says she feels like a little girl wearing a pretty dress. I'm not sure if she likes it or not!

Here is the other one. I made them from a pattern I had bought some years ago and used fabrics from my stash. They are probably not what she would choose for herself, but they are something to wear!

This is what they were supposed to look like! I really am the Queen of blurry photos. Hey! It's a talent!

One of my goals for 2008 is to sew 52 articles of clothing. I think I should be able to do that, but we'll see. I'm going to start a list on the side of my blog, and you'll be able to chart my progress. I also want to quilt more. As yet I don't have any plans for the quilting bit. I'm sure it will come!

It's a new day & a new year!

Last night as Bradley and I floated around in the pool somewhere around midnight, I began pondering the interest we humans have for the "New Year". Is it just another excuse for a party, or do we all really like the idea of ruling off one year and beginning another fresh? Exit 2007, enter 2008 with a whole new set of plans and little remembrance of past mistakes.

All the symbolism that the New Year has attatched to it is interesting too. Lots of new beginnings. New life. Diving right in. OK. Enough of the philosophical stuff. I think I only brought it up to distract you from the cold hard fact that I didn't really do any sewing yesterday (but that was last year, this year will be different!).

Okay, let's dive right in! Mr 7 had a tummy bug yesterday. He was most miserable. I don't think he remembers ever having one before. He asked me if I had ever had a tummy bug. I assured him that I had. In fact everyone has at some time. Then he said, "Then you know how much I hurt!". (He is male, afterall.) I spent the day ministering to his needs.

Mostly that meant sitting with him, looking at him. That was the only thing that made him feel better. I did manage to dip in the pool a couple of times because there were lots of other people here to "look" at him. The best at "looking" (apart from me, of course) is Mrs 23. She is such a good woman, she sat with this vomiting child for me even though she felt like vomiting herself! In the end it became too much for her, but I had managed to cool off a little in the pool. Yesterday was very hot. It was 42 degrees again. Apparently overnight we have had a weak change and the B.O.M. is only expecting a top of 38 degrees today. I'm not sure that they've got it right because it is already 38 degrees here! Anyway, enough of this. Back to the sewing!