U3A

On Monday afternoons my mother teaches a quilt class at University of the Third Age (U3A). She invited me to come along this week for show and tell. It was an interesting exercise. I have so many part finished quilts, even I didn't realise the extent of them! At first I was quite despondent as I collected together my projects, but as I talked about them I became excited about them all over again! I'm looking forward to working on some of them again.

Baking

Okay, I have to say up front that I'm not much of a cook and that this is actually a photo of Miss 16's baking, not mine. However, one of my goals for May is to bake more for my hungry and appreciative children. I made cheese puffs and vegetable soup for lunch today. Cheese puffs are a favourite around here. They're kind of like scones except quicker and easier!



Cheese Puffs

2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
dash of pepper
1 cup of grated cheese
1 cup of milk

Preheat oven to 230 degrees celcius. Sift flour, baking powder, salt and pepper into a bowl. Mix in grated cheese. Make a well and add milk. Stir and place spoonfuls of mixture onto baking paper on a tray. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until golden. Great with soup!

Oh! Speaking of cheese puffs and soup, it has been raining all weekend! (Perfect soup weather!) Last night we even had hail! Boy, was it loud! We have a tin roof and it's lovely to be in a nice warm bed listening to rain on the roof! So far today we have had 17mm of rain, something we are all really excited about!

Happy Birthday!

Having a lot of people in our family means we get to be at more birthday parties than others do! See! Having a big family is like being at a permanent party! Today Miss 15 turned 16. I don't think she was very happy about being snapped whilst eating. We went to our local pizza joint for dinner to celebrate.

Our local pizza joint smells really good. It's warm and comfortable and has great atmosphere. It is also right next door to a great dvd place that sells ex-rental dvds. Pretty much heaven for a teenager. Some of us had pizza and some had pasta. Then we bought some dvds.

And then we came home and watched dvds. My sewing room is getting closer to being finished. I have discovered more exciting things today. Perhaps my room will be finished over the long weekend!

A Ritual at our House

Are you taller? It's an important question that needs answering at our house. Everyone who is still growing delights in being measured every now and then. Mostly when some parent has said, 'Are you taller?'
Not much is happening here on the craft front. I am still sorting and organising my craft room, along with all the extra things that are required of Mothers in the school holidays. (Even Mothers who homeschool! That's when all sorts of things kids are interested in are concentrated! It's also when their schooled friends are available to play, and sleepover, and play, and play.)

This time last week I had seven extras for dinner due to all the comings and goings of friends. They love it, so it is all worth it, but it keeps you busy! The younger kids and I went to see 'Horton Hears a Who' at the Semaphore Odeon Star last week too. They enjoyed it (especially the 7 year old!) and I love taking the kids to Semaphore to see a movie because they have an everybody $7 a movie policy. It just makes movie going so much more affordable! Miss 11 is keen to see 'Nim Island' now (darn those trailers!) so hopefully that will be on the cards this week. Tomorrow I'm planning (translation, desperate) to get my sewing room finished so that I can sew again! Watch this space.

I Love Old Movies

One of my favourite things to do whilst sewing is to watch dvds. I have two favourite kinds of dvds. I love television series. There's nothing like watching an entire series. So much better than waiting for a little installment a week at a time! (And people think I am patient because I have eight children!) Of course, my favourite thing to watch whilst sewing is old movies. This week I stumbled upon 'Woman of the Year' at the supermarket.

I watched it on my tiny dvd player while I was mending. (I don't usually count mending as sewing, but this week has seen no real sewing so I'm counting the mending!) My favourite old time actor is Fred Astaire. I just love those movies where people periodically break into song and dance!

The things you find!

This week I have been sorting fabric. It's the next phase in my year of organisation. I have had fabric stored in a shed. Not the best place to keep it, but the only place during our renovations. Not only did I sort through fabric, but I found some almost forgotten quilting projects too!

Some reverse applique, some nine patches, and some sixteen patches. Each was an exciting discovery. I struggled to remember what my plan for the sixteen patches was. (Still can't remember!) Now I'm all excited and longing to get to my sewing machine and finish these quilts. Hopefully this excitement will spur me on to quickly finish sorting in my sewing room and start sewing.

Another fun thing was just being able to look at and touch all my fabrics. Mostly I remember when and where I got them, even who was with me at the time. Talk about memory lane. Well, back to the sorting!

Inside-out Pants Day

Did you know that today is inside-out pants day? Well, it is! Mr 14 decided to celebrate his birthday one year by wearing his trousers inside-out and has done so every year since. I think he was about 5 or 6 when he decided to have inside-out pants day. All the kids join in and wear their trousers inside-out too. Just a little tradition that our children observe every year. (And some people call us weird! What's with that!)

Happy Birthday!

Today Mr 13 turned 14! He wanted burritos for his birthday dinner and he invited his sister and brother-in-law to dinner. The burritos were delicious and I made a banana ginger cake with orange icing. I don't know if you can tell from the photo, but we had to cut a slice off for Mrs 23 cause she needed to go home before we had sung 'Happy Birthday'.

I think he likes being 14. He had a tummy bug yesterday and feels sooooooooo good today in comparison that 14 feels very good indeed.

A happy day during happy week.

Today I went to the patchwork apple. It was very fun. I bought some fabric (a panel and some 50% off fabric for backing). We also went to the lolly shop at Hahndorf. (That was the fun for the kids!) I love fabric shops. Especially ones that are friendly! It was a really relaxing day.

Digital Cameras Make Me Happy!

Life changes constantly, sometimes in imperceptable ways. Well, obviously not 13 year old boys. In my experience their changes are very easily perceived! That moment when you ring home and your 13 year old answers the phone and you think, "Who's that man and why is he at my house answering the phone?" through to the moment you realise that your little boy is now taller than his Dad! I think technology is the king of imperceivable changes.

Like digital cameras. Before digital cameras not many of us could afford to give the camera to our kids and say, "Snap away!". So the photos you get with a digital camera are very different! I have lots of photos of feet. (Something pioneered by Mr 19 when we got our very first digital camera and a tradition now carried on by Miss 11!) We have lots of photos of teenagers looking in the mirror too. (It is their natural habitat, after all.)

We also have a lot of self-portraits taken at arms length. Think this is easy? It's not. My children have to practise this a lot. That's why they need cameras in their phones. So they can practise the art of the self-portrait. (It is a legitimate art form after all!) Mostly I love digital cameras because you don't feel constrained by the question, "Would this be a good photo?". You just click, and click, and click! And you capture more of real life than you do when you're pondering questions. I love the realness of digital cameras. Of course, I only think they're real cause I don't have photoshop. But that's a whole other discussion!

Sticks Make Me (us) Happy

Sticks are one of Mr 7's most favourite things. They keep him occupied for hours. In his mind they become all sorts of things. Mostly they are light sabres and swords, but not always. Fortunately we have bamboo growing, so we never run out of sticks! Sticks make me happy because Mr 7 is happy and occupied with sticks. His favourite place to play is right outside my sewing room window and I love to watch him!

'Happy Week' No 2

I love going to the playground with my kids! It's another of my happy thoughts. Of course, I don't much like it when they walk on top of the monkey bars. Mr 13 can't hang from the monkey bars any more cause he has grown heaps in the last six months, so he figures he's allowed to do the top!

This was a fun day. Once we had finished at the playground we went and got gelato from the shop around the corner.

Mmmm..... delicious!

A Closer Look at that Package

Janine received her scrappy swap package today, so now I can show you what was inside the pink package from yesterday's post. Do you like the way I packaged it up? A complete copy of Janine's packaging! Her's was so pretty I wanted to package mine the same way.

And these are the coasters I made for Janine. I loooooooove coasters! Regular readers of my blog will realise that I talk about coasters, but have never actually made any before! I really enjoyed making them and will make more - this time for me!

Happy Week via The Bird Bath

I visited the Bird Bath tonight. I really love visiting the blogs of other Adelaide bloggers! Bird Bath had her birthday today and is having a happy week. So much so that she's going to be posting about more things that make her happy this week and she has invited others to join her. This is one of my happy thoughts. His name is Bradley and we have been married for 25 years.

Tune in all this week for more of things that make me happy!

Scrappy Swap

This package is on it's way to Janine's house for the scrappy swap. I'll reveal what is inside once Janine receives it.

Melly & Me Swapness

Yesterday afternoon someone answered the door to Australia Post and brought this package in to me. It is from Janine who is my Melly & Me scrappy swap partner and she sent me some of the most beautiful scraps ever! Her parcel actually made my day. I have been in bed the past three days thanks to the kids who shared their germs with me this week. I am asthmatic and tend to be allergic to any virus' or bacterial infections. So when I'm sick I end up in bed because my breathing is usually affected. This year the germs seem to be starting early. Last year I didn't get sick until August.

Mr 7 fell in love with this little charm that Janine included. It's a little pincushion and is so sweet! I have packed up my scraps for Janine today and will post them off tomorrow. I'm a little behind. It was a lot of fun to go through my scraps. It was inspiring actually. I got to touch lots of fabrics and all sorts of project ideas started to fill my mind. I'm sorting fabric next in my sorting year and now I can't wait!

My Newly Organised Pantry

Some of my regular readers may have read about my excitement when Bradley announced that this summer (okay, last summer now because with all the wind and rain today it is definitely feeling winter here!) we would definitely be building our new kitchen. A preliminary wall was built, and demolition started, but due to unforeseen circumstances that's where it all stopped. I have been waiting on this new kitchen for some time now and had been ignoring the old kitchen because a new one would be coming! Well, it didn't, and my cupboards were such a wreak that using the old kitchen became a nightmare. I have decided that 2008 is the year of sorting and getting things organised for me so I have spent the last two or three weeks organising all my kitchen cupboards. And this is how beautiful they look now!

The labeller and I have been having a lot of fun! I managed to fit kitchen things into my pantry that have never fitted in there before and still have room for new things! (Yes, It was sort of like magic.)

Oh, and I did have to go to Ikea (I know, any excuse) to get a new stool/step ladder because the old one was broken. (Really!) This stool is completely brilliant. I am extremely happy with this purchase and love my new Ikea stool passionately.

So, the new kitchen is still happening - just not as quickly as we would have liked. And in the meantime it's easier to use the kitchen again! Ahhh..... my newly organised life is going to be so good!

The Dollhouse of Horror

This is what happens when Barbie leaves home! Dead horses! Guns! Action figures down!

It's all a bit CSI Rosemary Hill! This is the sight that greeted us when we came home from our high school tour tonight. (High school tour? Yes, we are homeschoolers but Miss 15 has decided she'd like to give high school a go.) Last time I looked at the dollhouse this afternoon it had a lovely family atmosphere with a mummy and a daddy and kids. Very G rated. Then tonight it had this dreadful MA15+ rating! I think Mr 7 was the last one playing with the dollhouse. Boys are interesting, aren't they? He loves his action figures!