A tree

a tree, partway through the painting process

I have been struggling with a headache for a few days now. Nothing seems to shift it. Yesterday I thought it hurt so much that I couldn't really do anything. Today it hurts so much I can't possibly do nothing. I guess it is changing at least! So I decided to paint this MDF tree that I bought last year at Spotlight. I am completely amazed at how many edges it has. Eventually it will all be white (I hope) with some glitter paint over the top. I'm not sure whether I am a glitter type person or not. Anyway, the paint is bought and I am definitely putting it on. Hopefully it will be pretty!

Gingernut Biscuits and Painting.

Gingernut Biscuits

They look much more delicious in real life than in this photo. It's a bit overcast today, perhaps that's why they look so insipid in this photo. I was madly sewing away on my Kate Spain "Good Fortune" quilt today when I felt the need for sustenance of a sweet, crunchy type. (And a hot milo.) So I made gingernut biscuits. A double batch, of course, because there are seven of us living here. The recipe said a double batch would make 100 biscuits. I got 90-odd. I was quite pleased with that. They must be close to the suggested size! They are yummy. (So was the hot milo.)

Miss 19, on a chair, painting.

I am sewing today. Miss 14 is sewing. (Covers for her folders for school. She believes every folder deserves a fabric cover.) Miss 25 is doing the work I should be doing (yay her!) loading items to eBay. My Bradley is busy working. Mr 17 is playing x-box. Mr 11 is alternating between shooting hoops, watching iview, playing xbox, wandering and eating. Miss 19 is painting something mysterious in a corner of the kitchen. I haven't looked because she doesn't want me too. It's a busy day here with lots of creative energy!

Struggling this week...

... because I have been doing those headaches again. Who knows why. If I was really serious about getting things done I would just stop having those headaches I think! So, no sewing done (Although I did go visiting teaching and gift some ornaments.) and no decorating for Christmas done either. (But we did get our piano delivered from the prison they call storage this week. I personally feel the piano is really just an oversized Christmas dekky. Christmas tunes, singing around the piano...) Last night I was pretty much over the whole headache thing and decided to just do something and pretend I didn't have a headache. The something that I felt I could do was painting, so I dragged out my easel out of the garage and my acrylic paints out of the cupboard. Actually it was an episode of Australian Story, "When William met Sarah", which is about actor William McInnes and his producer wife Sarah Watts who recently lost her battle with cancer. She was a remarkable woman, which got me to thinking about women in general. Most of us are pretty remarkable. Most of us are also remarkably hard on ourselves. We need to be kinder to ourselves! We are remarkable! (More on this theme here from President Uchtdorf.) Anyway, so I painted a little last night and plan to paint some more today. I haven't painted for sooooo long, I thought my paints may have dried up and been completely unusable, but they were fine. So the list for today so far reads:

1. Paint
2. Sew
3. Decorate
4. Clean house
5. Wash clothes
6. Change rooms around

A snap I'm sure! Oh. And the "change rooms around" relates to Miss 19 who is coming to spend the summer with us in Melbourne. Woohoo! Happy dances all round here! (We can't wait!)

Painting

I have been thinking about surface decoration for about 10 or 15 years now. (Don't rush me! It takes a while.) I have had one or two unsuccessful attempts, which has just made me think about it more. In the latest "Quilting Arts" magazine there was an article about painting fabric with watercolour paint, which sounded easy to me because I have watercolour paint in my art cupboard. So on sewing day I painted. Grandson helped too. I'm not incredibly happy with this, but I think it's a method I could use again and improve upon. So when I get a spare moment I think I'll give this another go.

Ideas

One of the things I want to do this year is to design more of my patterns myself. Tonight I got out pencil and paper and started drawing. I had forgotten how much I love to draw. Must do it more often I think. More drawing, more painting, more sewing. Sounds like an idyllic life, doesn't it?

Create, make, craft

Yesterday my Bradley put some shelves up in my studio. I couldn't resist quickly putting some of my paints on them so I could feel like I might start painting at any moment. I've been thinking about my goals for 2009. All that thinking led to my latest header. Create, make, craft. I think that's what I want to do this year. The Adelaide Central School of Art says that it finds meaning through making. I really like that. Meaning through making. That's my goal for this year, what I hope to accomplish. Not completely sure exactly what that making will be yet. I know I'm going to sew (couldn't live without it!) and paint, but that's all I know for now. Just have to get started I think and see what develops! It's kind of exciting!

My Studio

I have been very busy. I guess its that time of year. We're all busy. My Bradley has devised a way for me to get my very own studio! I am very excited!!! It is a work in progress at the moment. This is my half-a-room. My sewing space. Well, on the weekend I got the other half of the room (It's only a small room, but in a house with nine people living in it you are grateful for every little space.)

This is the other half of the room. This is going to be my painting room! At the moment I am working on getting everyone else's things out of my studio and then I will be able to set all my things up. I'm hoping to be somewhere near organised at the end of the week. Hopefully I will be able to show you my photos of the finished room soon.

Painting (on canvas not walls)

I haven't done any more on my quilt back. I stood looking at my cutting table and thought I would tidy my sewing room instead of cutting out. What a surprise! (Considering how much I love cutting out!) My sewing room is quite trashed so it's taking a while to tidy. It's good to get things straight.


And that's what Miss 15 did to Miss 17's hair last night. Miss 17 has curly hair and usually just lets it be. Once it was straight we had to take a photo cause it's soooooooo much longer straight! (She looks so different too) I think she wins the award for the longest hair ever at our house. Maybe. I guess Miss 21's hair could be longer. She's been overseas for about 6 months now and I'm not sure how long her hair is.


To the painting. For many reasons I haven't painted in a long while. It's kind of to do with time and space really. Last year Mrs 23 wanted to go to a painting/collage course and I went with her. It was full-on, but fun. And this was the result. Mine didn't look anything like anyone elses! I can't help it. I'm a sucker for those bright colours. It was actually a very creative time and my head was full of all sorts of ideas. I went home with grand ideas to produce more work, but just never did. I found this painting whilst doing the sewing room tidy. Maybe this year I'll paint some more. Maybe.

Printing and lights!

Yesterday I spent ALL day at home. I love being home. I didn't actually make anything, but I did touch a lot of fabric. (Tidying up!) It was a wonderful day! I did have to go out at 7pm to pick Miss 10 up from basketball training, but that was fun too. It's so nice to spend time with the kids when I taxi them! AND, it was the"last" training till next year!!! WooHoo!!!!!


The kids have been doing some printing. Mrs 23 made some of the stamps they used in her textile course this year. These two pieces of fabric were printed by Mr 13. He made the flower stamp himself from a black custard tart tray from our local bakery. They used an acrylic paint/textile medium mixture to print on some calico. I really love the stuff that Kirsty does with her kids. You should pop over to her blog and have a look! They don't just end up with pieces of fabric, they have finished items! We have yet to get to that point. It's something we have to work on.

Another important development this week (well, according to the two youngest members of our family) was the puting up of the icicle lights. Bradley and the kids put the lights up on Monday night and then we went for a drive to look at lights in our neighbourhood. Fortunately, there are quite a few really impressive displays nearby. Ours is kind of mediocre, but the little kids are easily impressed! (young kids are such good value for money!) It was quite windy when I took this photo. Our front yard looks like we are renovating (Well!!! We are!!!) so I'm hesitant to call any attention to it, but as long as we only turn them on after twilight it's all good!

Tomorrow I'm hoping to fill, sand and paint. Well, I have to fill and sand. I'm hoping to paint! We're working on the "big couch room" at the moment. (That's REALLY how we refer to it! We so have to "name" our rooms as soon as we finish them! Do any of you name your rooms???????????)

Painting

I have been sewing and knitting this week but nothing is finished yet. I have also been painting. Rooms not pictures. But I'm not finished there either! It's been a slow week.

These are art works produced by Miss 10 and Mr 6. Paint, glue, paper, and canvas have been calling my name, but I have been ignoring them. Next week I think I'll answer their call.
I love to paint. I'm looking forward to next week. Hopefully I will finish something this weekend and spend next week painting!!!

Labour Day Holiday

I'm not sure why we have a labour day holiday, but I have been hard at work today! I'm painting that very red/pink room from the previous post. It's taken two coats of undercoat to cover it, but now my "orchid" will look beautiful. Today is the first day of the school holidays. You might wonder how that affects us because we homeschool, but this is the time my kids can catch up with their schooled friends. We have quite few activities set for this week so the crafting and painting might have to take a back

seat! I thought I would share some of my front yard with you because everything is just so beautiful at the moment!

Green apricots, daisies and apple blossoms.

New Look Rosemary Hill

I have been very busy of late and have not been able to think straight let alone blog. Things are now starting to calm down and I have decided to get back into the swing of things. I thought my first move would be to revamp my blogspot. When I first started this I didn't know how to do anything on the computer! Fortunately my children are much more computer literate than I and have taught me all sorts of things. I now can do this unaided. Pretty impressive, huh?

I want this site to be a view of all the things that are important to me and a record of all the things that are important in my life. I love sewing. I have loved it since I was small and spent hours watching my mother sew clothing for her family. Eventually I began sewing myself when I was about ten. My mother also knitted for us and taught me to knit when I was five. When I was eight she taught me to crotchet. I enjoy knitting and crotcheting, but I'm not quite so passionate about them! I love to paint too. That's something else that my mother did while I was young. There's nothing like putting paint onto canvas! Except possibly putting paint onto walls! I love to design spaces and decorate them too.

Over the past two months I have been busy sending my daughter off on a mission. She is daughter no. 2 and the first of our children to serve a mission. It has been a wonderful experience watching her prepare to serve and then seeing her go. All of her letters have been so positive and upbeat. I know this is a very happy time for her and that she is really enjoying herself. She is now out in the mission field and is working hard! We are so happy for her and proud of her.

Currently we are working on our home (a renovators work is never done!!!) and I am sewing clothes for some of my kids. This past weekend has seen me preparing walls for painting. Our home is old and the walls and ceilings are in less than wonderful condition! Normally I really hate filling, sanding and washing walls, but I have really enjoyed it this weekend. I started off very grumpy and didn't want to do it. I kept finding other things to do and didn't get into the room until after 12 noon. But once I started I got into a rhythm and as the walls became smoother I began to enjoy myself. Now that the walls are so improved I am glad that I took the time to do the job properly (don't worry - they're not that smooth!).

This is one of the walls I have been working on. The paint is Wattyl "seductress" and my son (no. 6) doesn't think it's the right colour for his new room. It's a very strong colour so my first layer of paint tomorrow will be an undercoat. I have more sway with him than I did with the rooms former occupant and the new colour will be Wattyl "orchid". In other words "white". I love white! Of course the new room will not just be white. He's keen to have orange and blue as well. I already have the blue - Dulux "maximus" - but the orange is yet to be chosen and purchased. We want a fairly strong and clean orange colour and haven't seen one yet. By clean I mean not dirty or dusty. You know what I mean. Maybe. This week the search will begin in earnest. Paint charts are some of my favourite things ( why can I not say that without hearing Julie Andrews in the background?) but they seem to have fewer colours on them these days. They seem to be more about showing you how to fashionably use a few fashionable colours rather than advising you on what colours they have available.
'Til next time!

Quilt-in-a-day

This is a small section of my shaggy flannel quilt. As you can see it is one of those "cheat" quilts. My word, not yours! I always swore I would never make one, but I have and I love it! In fact, I'm going to make another one. It's so warm and quilty so quickly. When I think of all those UFO's insulating my cupboards I feel like flinging open the doors and screaming - "Soooo, yah wanna see what a real quilt looks like? Take a look at this....." Okay, for all of you feeling a little uncomfortable at this point notice that I did say "feel like" not that I have actually done anything so completely loopy or discomforting!!! So, roll on cheat quilting. It's my latest thing.

I also have been looking at the scrappy cabin challenge at Melly and Me and thinking I would like to give it a go. Then when I tuned in to their blog on Friday I discovered that they have a fabric swap going! What's better than having fabric? Getting some different fabric! So race on over to their site before the end of May so that you can join in and get some different fabric too! Today was cool. Well, cool for us (17 degrees celcius maximum) here in Adelaide. Over the last month we have even had some rain which has somewhat revived my sad garden. My seaside daisies have new leaves on them now. Some of them are really dead, but some like this one (above) are coming back. We had 2.4 millimeters of rain here at RH today. Not a lot, but every little bit helps.
Who knew that my rosemary could flower? It never has before, so I was pretty excited to see these flowers. This has been a busy week. Quilting, making birthday presents, visiting homeschooling friends, journaling ;) always, buying fabric, homeschooling, and painting. Xam is using acrylics for the first time on a large scale artwork and is finding it an overwhelming experience. ("I know you can be overwhelmed and underwhelmed, but can you ever just be whelmed?"-Gilmore Girls) Ooops! Sorry. I just "quoted" you. It happens a lot here and you have to be able to do it to keep up with the teenagers! I hope to get his permission to show you his artwork when it's done. I think he's doing a great job!

I'm here! Finally! Sort of!

I am very new to this - hence the lack of visuals - but felt after reading many other's blogs that I had something to say and show you! (Ooops! That visual thing again) Life at Rosemary Hill is always busy. George (my best friend and the tall, dark and handsome stranger I hooked up with some twenty-five years ago) works here at RH (Rosemary Hill) and we homeschool some of the eight children we created together. The others are grown up and doing their own things!

Actually, there was great excitement today when #1 (Picklestick) discovered that her blog and etsy shop can now be googled. Of course it was remote excitement because Picklestick and Her Bloke live "off campus" at Picklestick Manor. #2 (Yellowone) and #3 (Giant Joe) are all but grown up. They still live at RH but go out to the world of work to support themselves. #4 (Lucy Lou) and #5 (Katie) are busy with high school at home, preparing themselves for the world of work and the other three (Xam, Murray and Dax) are our homeschoolers.

This week has seen us painting, quilting, stitching, designing, journaling and renovating. We are DIY through and through. Tomorrow I am off to a rag rug class so I'll have something else to show you. (umm..... when I get the visuals worked out. I'm sure some three year old child will be able to help me with that!)