My view today...

... fashion is a funny thing. I think maybe permed hair is slightly more in fashion than it was? Maybe not. Last time I permed someone's hair the chemicals were quite difficult to find, but I had no trouble yesterday. It's just occurred to me that I'm in a different city now and maybe that is the difference. My mother is a hairdresser and growing up I watched her perm hundreds of heads of hair. And cut hundreds of heads of hair. So now I feel quite comfortable cutting and perming hair. Of course, she did teach me and guide me through my first few haircuts. In fact I became her personal hairdresser. Lily has quite fine, greasy teenager hair. She is sick of it being so greasy. Having both curly and straight haired people in our family we know that it takes curly hair longer to be too greasy so she thought she would have a perm. (Her first ever) This morning I have been perming hair. Our Jess (picklesticks) is visiting too and she has the same kind of hair and is thinking maybe she will have a perm later this week too. It looks like it will be a hairdressing kind of week.

Do you like soft toy patterns?

 When my Jess (Mrs 28) came to visit us in June/July she designed and made some really cute soft toys for her kids to play with. She decided they were so cute she would write a pattern for them and put them in her etsy shop. So, if you like to make soft toys check out her etsy shop here. Brand new to her shop are her Gentleman Mouse and Gentleman Lion patterns.

Gentleman Mouse

Gentleman Lion

Of course, she also has her old favourites in the shop too, the dragon and sheep.

Dragon

Sheep

It has been a cold day today in most parts of Australia. We are all busy enjoying the ducted heating and our quilts tonight here as we snuggle up in front of the television! Don't you love Friday nights? Ash (Mr 11) has had friends over to play and we are all smug with the anticipation of the weekend! That means sleeping in for the teenagers and a day without particular responsibilties for the adults. What does the weekend mean to you?

Favourite Things Friday

 I am linking up with Shay's Favourite Things Friday today. I love FTF, I just don't always quite get there at the end of the week. This week I have, and I am thrilled!

Front

Back

This bag is one of my favourite things. It is a well loved and well worn bag made by my daughter picklesticks. I call it "A Walk in the Woods". It isn't mine, but I love it anyway. She was a teenager when she made it and already the queen of needle turn applique. It reminds me of all the fun sewing days we had together when she lived at home, all the wonderful times we had buying fabric at the patchwork apple (great fabric!) and a life from long ago! Good times! (As my 23 year old son would say.)

Check out other favourite things here.

Christmas Present

Picklesticks sent me this for Christmas. I love it, and it really is my mantra. Sewing is what I do to keep calm. It seems to make worries evaporate for me and I am a black belt worrier! (Well, we all have to be good at something, don't we?) So, I am keeping calm here by sewing!

Treasure!

A co-operative quilt top by picklesticks and me designed by Christine Book.

I have been discovering all sorts of treasures as I unpack. The storage spaces I have here are different so I need to go through most of my boxes in order to get the storage right. It has been a lot of fun because I keep discovering treasure. This lovely little quilt was started many years ago by a teenaged Mrs 27 (picklesticks). It is from a Christine Book book of patterns. She progressed so far with it and then gave it to me saying she had no desire to ever finish it, so I finished off a little of the stitching and sewed the buttons on. The next step is to quilt it I think. This is where lots of my quilt tops get stuck. I really loathe the basting process and until recently was not confident with quilting at all. I have become more confident with my quilting, but still have to improve or 'get over' the basting side of things! I really like this little quilt and intend to finish it soon! (As soon as I finish this unpacking and setting up! And finish my Tis the Season quilt too of course!)

So pretty!

Home again.

My boys and I drove home to Melbourne from Adelaide on Friday. I am getting to know that road really well. Most of the day was sunny, with a little rain around Bordertown SA. I spent yesterday recovering. I find there's nothing like sitting doing nothing in a car to make you tired!

I came home from Adelaide with a new pincushion. A Bliss pincushion in fact that picklesticks made for me. It is heavenly. Number one because I just love Bliss. Number two because she always makes such pretty things. And number three because I didn't have one! Miss 24 went to Adelaide to visit under her own steam and when picklesticks professed a desire to make a pincushion Miss 24 encouraged her to make one for me because I keep knocking my pin tin off the table! (I know! Who knew I was so clumsy, but I am!) I don't know whether I will continually knock the pincushion off the table, but I know if I do it will be a lot easier to pick up!

Going for a drive

Everytime we go for a drive through Melbourne we see hot air balloons. This time we were ready for them and managed to capture them just before they were out of sight.

And this is what was waiting for us at the end of our drive. Picklesticks with granddaughter(s).

And Grandson with Jane's birdbath in the front garden of the "new" Patchwork Apple at Lenswood. It was such a pretty day today and we had so much fun!

My Granddaughter's cardigan and some Mother's day musings.

Not that it would keep her very warm at the moment. It's a little sparse. For those regular, observant readers, yes! This is the same yarn and pattern I used for the new baby's cardigan. These two sisters will be "matchy matchy". I love that and so does their Mum (picklesticks) so it's all good! Crocheting this matchy matchy cardigan has made me think about my Mum and being a new Mum myself. Appropriate, because it's Mother's day this weekend.

An eon or two ago my Mum made matchy matchy outfits for me and picklesticks, and then for my oldest girls and then for the middle girls. It seems so very long ago now! My sister, brother and I grew up with Mum making most of our clothes. I loved it because I loved the clothes she made for me and also because I loved to sit and watch her create. I spent hours watching her sew. I remember the rooms her sewing desk was in with fondness. I also remember watching her knit for us. Mum's knitting seemed to herald winter for me. I love winter. (You can keep that disgusting HOT weather! I love the cooler months.) Just the word winter conjures up visions of a gas heater, rain on the windows, and my Mum knitting. I think that my Mother definitely had an effect on my own creating. However, if you didn't spend hours watching your Mum sew whilst growing up it doesn't mean you won't be able to sew! (Just watching doesn't do it. You have to practice, practice, practise!) I watched my Mum knit and I am not a knitter!

Which brings me back to the cardigan. I am a crocheter and I am really enjoying this pattern. It's from this cute as book which I picked up at Lincraft. Anyway, back to the making!

Meaning Through Making (It's May!)

It's May! I finished up April with a visit to Adelaide. It was a short, sharp, shiny visit. Two days driving (there and back) and two days visiting (staying with picklesticks). It takes me 9 hours driving to get from here to there, if I really concentrate. Longer if I don't. I don't mind the drive really. It's an opportunity to think. Of course, I do like to distract myself with a talking book or music, but there are times when that gets old and I think. This trip I pondered my last post and the comments I received. You know, expectations of what you will achieve and then the reality. And what was the outcome of all that thinking? Well, despite the fact that I say that finishes are the important part of all this making I do, they're actually not.

Miss 14 making.

For me it is the process. I want the outcome, and I like the outcome, but the process is really what gives me joy. So, as long as I am involved in a part of the process daily, I am happy. And really, that's what it's all about for me. I craft because it makes me happy. The meaning I find through making is happiness. Now that I have worked this out why am I telling you? Well, of late the focus of my blog has been finishes. I want to blog more often. Mostly for me. I love to read myself - vain obviously - it helps me to make sense of things I think, but I just don't have enough finishes to warrant an increase in posts. So my blog's focus has to change. I think my new focus will be making. Just letting you know. Got to get back to my making!

November!

I was woken up this morning by Mr 10 coming into my bedroom to turn my calender over. He has taken the job of keeping our calenders current this year very seriously. So my first thought this morning was, "It's November!". Wow! This year has gone so fast!!! November means the Christmas Pageant if you live in Adelaide. Read about it here and here. Wow! November!

I have been busy sewing my layer cake class quilt today and visiting Picklesticks and kids. Grandson spent time cooking in his kitchen and granddaughter sat at the table and chatted with Picklesticks and I.

I think November will be an eventful month for us. We are planning to move to Melbourne this month or next and we are busy house hunting long distance. (It's about 750 km away) We will be sad to leave our family behind, but we need to move for my Bradley's work. I am hoping to get a house in which we can have a guest room set up so that all our best Adelaide people can come visit us. (You know you want to!) And we will be coming to visit them in Adelaide too. So, roll on busy November! Big changes are afoot!

Gorgeous Inspiration........

Photo and boy by Picklesticks. (Actually, trousers, shirt, vest, quilt, and sandwich also by Picklesticks.)

Look at this!

So, you should all rush right out and buy "Homespun" so you can make one of Mrs 25's dragons. Yes, my talented designer daughter is featured in this month's Homespun magazine and her dragon is on the front cover. If you want to see a better picture of the said dragon visit her blog at picklesticks. Grandson just loves these dragons. He calls them "rrraahhhhhhhhhhh!!!". Okay, not so much a name as a sound effect, but you get the picture! Even when his Mum showed him the magazine he still said, "rrraahhhhhhhhhhh!!!". She is pretty excited to see her dragon in print. She is also pretty excited about her baby countdown. Just two more weeks till her baby is due. Congratulations Jess!

An Exhibition in Adelaide (and a chance to buy a picklesticks original!)

Mrs 24 is part of this exhibition in early November. There will be some beautiful things to buy there, in fact this is your chance to pick up one of her gorgeous toys that she makes. She is exhibiting with a group of people who all do truly beautiful work. Claire (the organiser) is a talented illustrator and I can't wait to go see what she has on offer. So if you're interested in art and textiles you can find some lovely original works at Carclew that will look lovely at your house or as a gift for a loved one!

**Written and authorised by Kristin Paton for "Life at Rosemary Hill". We will now return you to your regularly scheduled blog.**

the Snap Press

A couple of weeks ago I talked about our 'new' snap press. Some of you (Okay, just comfy cosy!) wanted a photo of my magnificent machine, so here it is! Picklesticks (Mrs 23) did all the research and the actual purchasing of our press, but I chipped in half the cash. (Some might say a small contribution, but not insignificant!) It is heavy! And it attatches the most amazing plastic snaps. They are available in many colours and are very strong snaps. (I was worried about them 'staying on'. No problem. You have to worry more about putting them on in the right place, because they don't come off if you've got it wrong!) I'm in love with it, and I didn't even know it existed until Mrs 23 told me about it! It is so quick and easy to use. Mrs 23 was interested in purchasing one because she wanted to use cloth nappies for her son and wanted to use fitted nappies (for comfort) that she made herself. She has made the nappies and they are beautiful. It's quite possible that neither one of us will ever sew a buttonhole again!

Shhhhhhhh! It's a secret!

Who can believe that it's February already! Time flies, and yet this has been a long week. Despite the fact that we had a public holiday on Monday and it was a short week! Not a lot of crafting, but we did have some excitement. Mrs 23 (Picklesticks) is pregnant and had her ultrasound this week. She was excited because there actually IS a baby in there. She was convinced that she was feeling sick for no good reason, but was thrilled to see a wriggling, kicking baby on the screen! We were excited because now we know what kind of baby she is having. I just checked her blog and she hasn't posted anything about her ultrasound, so I'm not going to say anything. Anyway, back to the craft. I have been knitting baby trousers for my future grandchild this week. I'm using Paton's Dreamtime in Navy and White that I got from Kmart in Mt Gambier. I must have been inspired! I love the yarn! It's so wonderful to knit with.


I am also working on the quilt back. I'm still not sure exactly what I'm going to do with it, but I decided to start piecing and see what happens!

I have some scraps of the American Jane fabric, some of the black and white fabrics, and some solids that I'm going to mix-up somehow tomorrow. After the basketball of course.

Swimming & Sewing

Today was all about swimming and sewing. Two of my favourite hot day activities. Miss 17 and I hopped in the pool shortly after 11 am because we were already hot! (38 degrees) Then I cut out a dress for Mrs 23 (Picklesticks) and started sewing. Mrs 23 is pregnant with her first child and is so very, very sick. She is usually such a productive, busy person and is very unused to being able to do nothing. So, she needs help with sewing clothes. She waited for the magical 3 month mark in the hope that her nausea would disappear, but that marker has come and gone with very little difference. For some reason it didn't occur to me to take a photo of the dress and Mrs 23 has worn it home to her house this evening! But the pattern is below. Isn't it strange how some old patterns are "vintage" and others are just old? This is an old 80's pattern. Aren't the dresses shocking? They look like they have shoulder pads in them, but they don't! (Remember power dressing?) I made the dress one size too small because it looked very baggy, and made it longer. I used a lime green/white polycotton gingham. The dress looks better than these drawings and is cool and comfortable.


Eventually our maximum hit 41 degrees. So we hit the pool a few more times! My Bradley went to the shops and whilst there bought a Pooh Bear calendar for 2008. It's very cute! It's hard to believe that in just 3 days it will be 2008. This year seems to have flown by. I am looking forward to the new year. I want to sew more clothing, more home furnishings, and more quilts. I love the calendar Bradley got because it just seems so happy! I want that to rub off onto me this year. More happiness and more fun, especially more fun with the kids. I guess those are my New Year's resolutions. More sewing and more fun. Mmm..... a little hedonistic I think, but definitely what I need at the moment.


I can't wait for January and "a happy sort of day"! Hope yours is happy too!

Blurry photos & more - October in review!

October is just about over. We have just started daylight saving. We have had lots of hot days. Days where the roses looked completely overblown and there was a heat haze rising from the road. Days that felt like it was going to be a hot day at 10am. Our backyard pool is ready for use now and we have been swimming. I love reading northern hemisphere blogs about their October with it's chill and that cold smell in the air. I love winter best of all. But I also love to read southern hemisphere blogs that talk about heat, swimming, and the lack of rain because I feel like I'm there. The whole daylight saving thing is interesting. I don't think I like it, but the reason I don't like it is so silly. To start daylight saving you lose an hour's sleep. Yep. That's it. That's the reason. I think you spend all summer sleep deprived because of that lost hour, because you never seem to be able to catch it up!

If blurry photos are an artform, then I'm an incredible artist. I didn't realise just how many blurry photos I take. This blurry photo is of my sewing desk. These are the things that inspire me. The things I look at when I am sewing and thinking about sewing. Today I finished a jacket for Miss 21 who is overseas. Some friends of ours are going overseas for 5 weeks and are taking a package of our daughter's favourite things with them to save us postage. I sent a grey jacket, black skirt and red beret that I made for her. We also sent some of her favourite things. Chicos, minties, BBQ shapes, malteezers, milo, weetbix and vegemite. Making the jacket was very interesting. It looks like a bought one so I am very pleased with the way it turned out. I have never sewn one before and I was a little daunted by the task but it turned out beautifully. Of course you just have my word for this because I have no photographic evidence. (We were in a rush!)

We spent the weekend moving things around at our house. These shelves of tins were in Bradley's office, but have been moved to my already too tiny kitchen. Perhaps this will spur us on to start work on the kitchen! I love looking at the cans. I love the colours. But I can't wait until they are on shelves with doors infront of them!
This little guy is Miss 15's latest creation. He started life as a dragon pouch that Picklesticks designed for a swap. Miss 15 took Picklesticks design and turned him into a softie. He is a birthday present for a friend's brother who's party is next weekend. Miss 15 is really very good at making softies, but she has little confidence in herself. The dragon will be going to the same home as the zombie chicken she made in September. (You know, like a zombie teddy bear, but it's a chicken!)
On Saturday I managed to finish painting in Mr 13's new room. Well, just the ceiling and walls. The woodwork will be painted after the floating floor has been laid. Mr 13 and my Bradley have been working on the floor so it won't be long and I'll be painting in there again.
The room looks great. Mr 13 can't wait to move in. It will be the first time he has had his own room. One of the reasons I like to blog is so that I have a record of what I have done. Keeping a record of my accomplishments is quite a cheery thing! Sometimes I don't give myself enough credit and I tend to dismiss my accomplishments. That's hard to do when I post them here. October has been a very productive month for me. Roll on November!

A New Camera & Thursdayness

Yesterday the love of my life came in to talk to me and declared that the moment had come. It was time to go purchase my very own camera. It was a terribly thrilling moment. So it was off to JB's to buy the camera. It was such a thrilling moment that I got all stressed and had to go look at JB's large and varied DVD collection to calm down whilst Brad bought the camera. (That was my story & I was sticking to it!!!!) Then we made our way to the car where we opened the box and extracted the new camera. It even came with batteries! Which Brad put into the camera and then I started snapping. By the time we got home I had taken over 100 photos. What can I say? It's a great camera!!! In the photo above you can see what the best DVD shop in Adelaide looks like!

This is the drive home. I snapped and snapped and snapped all the way home. When I downloaded the photos from my camera to the computer today I noticed how dull and dreary the drive home looked! I'm not sure whether that is due to my photography skills or whether I just live in the middle of drabdom. I've never really had a camera of my own before and haven't really had much experience taking photos. I guess I'll get better at it! Whilst on the way home we stopped for fuel. So I even have a photo of the fuel pumps!

Now, for my Thursdayness. Yesterday Picklesticks went and felted all day with some girls from her textile course. She was so excited by what she had learned that she wanted to come over today and show me what she had learned. She also wanted to come over to my place and spin. Not because I'm a spinner and she wanted to use my spinning wheel, but because there is no room in her tiny flat for her spinning wheel so it lives at my house. We invited one of our spinning friends over to join in, so while they spun I knitted. I'm knitting a scarf for my girl who is overseas in the cold! It was a most relaxing day. Knitting is terribly relaxing. Must go knit some more.

The week that was

I'd like to make an announcement! We were not at home this week because we were on holiday just like Leanne from Leanne's House. This is why no blogging got done and no creating happened at all! What? You want to see my photos? Ummm..... OK, so we weren't on holiday in the Greek islands (like Leanne). Ummm..... We moved, and that's why nothing happened! Hmmm..... Moved like Cherry from Tales from Pixie Wood. You know, from the city to the country - just like Cherry. Ummm..... Well OK! Here's the truth. We did move, but it was within our own house and it took ALL week. Really!!! Just think how we would go making a move like Cherry! Nine people and all their stuff! It doesn't bear thinking about. Our twins, Lucy Lou and Katie are the best of friends and have shared a room all their lives. This has worked most of the time, but as they are getting older it's becoming more difficult. I love that they are friends and want them to stay that way, so this week we had to make an unscheduled room swap so they could remain friends. This involved moving five people and a big sacrifice from Giant Joe so that LucyLou and Katie could have their own rooms. It was a big job. Oh! The cupboard above was in our "old" room.
Another view of my kitchen cupboard that lives in my bedroom.
This, finally, is photographic evidence of my mother's day gifts. The stitchery above was created by Murray. She planned and designed this and then stitched it without me even knowing! I was so surprised. The postcard below was sent to me for mother's day by Picklesticks.

These are my other postcards I made from 5 inch squares I had from a fabric club. I love the middle one - it's a shark net! I am keen to make fabric postcards so that if I want to send one at a moments notice, I can. Well, roll on next week! Maybe more creating will happen then!!!

"A (bargain) hunting we will go..."

The patchwork apple had it's thirteenth birthday this week and to celebrate they had a sale. I've been thinking I might get there all week but it didn't happen until today. I have been going to the patchwork apple since Xam was tiny and he's just had his thirteenth birthday too! I just love this shop. Jane is always so friendly and her shop has the nicest feeling of all the quilting shops I have been to. And she has lots of fabric! Picklesticks wasn't well today so I didn't have an excited volunteer to go with me. I talked Lucy Lou and Murray into going with me so that I had someone to go "ooooh" and "aaaah" with. Lucy Lou is a sewer of clothes so she can appreciate fabric and Murray is just like Picklesticks, but twelve years younger. She is a maker and designer of all sorts of things despite being only ten.
This was the best table at the patchwork apple today. It had fifty percent off bargains on it. To cheer Picklesticks up I grabbed some fifty percent off fabric for her and put it in a "showbag" for her. Delivery is tomorrow! More fish pouches! The blue fish pouch was made by Dax. He drew and cut out the shape, then Picklesticks sewed it and he sewed on the eye. He wanted his zip in his fish's back because he didn't want his fish to be put upsidedown every time he needed something!
This fish pouch was designed, sewn and beaded by Murray. She has a compulsion to make things all day everyday and even all night. She gets her best ideas just before bedtime and then it's a struggle to get her to bed!
This is my workspace in my "making, doing room". It's not exclusively my room. The bench runs the length of the wall so we have room for other sewing machines and drawing and writing etc. We have a table in the middle of the room and a wall of cupboards to stash things like fabric and paper and clay and lots of UFO's!