Something else I made.

It's a bag. I think I like making bags. I'm not sure if this is because I love bags so much or if I just appreciate the utillitarian aspects of bags. I have stuff, and I need something to carry it around in. There's also the decorative aspect of bags to be taken into consideration. If you have some really groovey fabric what better way to show it off than draping it over your shoulder?

This bag was made from some of a "jellyroll" I bought from the patchwork apple. (I love that shop!) I quite like jellyrolls because they have the entire range of fabric contained within them. I don't know what quilting shops are like where you live, but here in Adelaide you don't often get access to an entire range of fabric. Even if Jane (the patchapple lady) ordered an entire range she might not get it. Especially if it is popular in other states. We in Adelaide have to be happy with dregs or shop on-line. I have never done that, but it's something I'm now considering seriously! What's your best place to shop on-line for fabric?

Last week in review

We have been a part of some momentous occassions this week. It's interesting how some things immediately seem to be momentous, but others only become momentous upon reflection. I'm not sure what kinds of momentous we have had this week. A bit of both I suspect.

The first immediately momentous occassion occurred on Tuesday afternoon when Miss 17 sat her last high school examination ever. She is so thrilled to be finished school "forever", or at least until she begins university next year! She still has her art exhibition this coming Thursday evening, but just has to turn up and then disassemble her art works at the end of the night. She spent some time stressing over the last month or so, but not a lot of time. Her beautiful Bradley-built wardrobes were covered in notes for her exams several times.


I have spent this past week reading "new" blogs. Reading and bookmarking. It's amazing just how many people out there are spending time blogging! Well, I guess not that amazing, because I do it, why wouldn't others? What is amazing to me is how few bloggers I know in real life. Just Picklesticks and Tina. Maybe I know others who are secret bloggers. Who use psuedenoms and only blog in the dark. Maybe.

I quite often mention my blog in passing in casual conversations I have with people. So far no-one has even commented when I have casually mentioned it. Not even "Really? You have a blog?". No "what's your url?". And definitely no "Oh yes, I know. I read it religiously!". Looking at all these different blogs has made me consider my blogging. Why do I blog? I'm not really sure. I know I like it. I know I enjoy feeling part of a community. Not something that I feel very often out in the cold, harsh, cruel world. This blogging world is warm and soft. Cushiony even. I like that. Maybe I like to do it because it's better than talking to myself! I can write all I am thinking and feeling and have some feeling that somebody out there will read it and know what I'm talking about. I think it helps me too, to have a record of my achievements and ideas. Initially this is why I started blogging. But it seems to be evolving into a place to share my thoughts as well. Isn't this fun?

I guess we have slowly slipped into summer. The last few days have been hot and the forecast for the next week is the same. This view of the pool is what I'll be looking at most afternoons as my youngest children cool off. Kids stamina for mucking around in the pool never ceases to amaze me. Today they went in twice and had to be dragged out both times. Fun!!!

I, of course, would much rather be in front of a fan sewing. Today I sewed a bag. It was fun. It is a patchwork bag. I love putting the fabrics and colours together. I also love piecing. It's so fun. I have been thinking about the softy I will make for Meet Me At Mike's Mirabella cause. I think I'm going to piece the fabric. Hmm..... this requires thought.

The end of another day

This is what the end of today looked like from my backyard. It was a warm day and it didn't turn out how I planned, but it was still a good day.





This is one part of Mr 13's new room. Malm drawers and Vestby wardrobe from Ikea. He chose a fabric by Prints Charming for the front of his Vestby. It really makes the room feel happy! We moved all his furniture in yesterday and today Bradley did the finishing touches. Put up mirrors, pinboards, and hooks.

Mr 13 has a Tromso loft bed from Ikea too. Miss 10 thinks this could be an Ikea display room because just about everything is from Ikea. Almost.

Miss 15 rearranged her room this week. I live in a house full of interior designers! You might recognise the pink cushion on her bed from Picklestick's blog, she gave the cushion to Miss 15.

One of our unplanned activities today was swimmimg. It was a warm day and the kids wanted to cool off in the pool. The frog sits on top of our thermometer. The water was 26 degrees today. That's my benchmark. Any cooler and I don't go in. But today the water was 26 degrees so I swam too. The water restictions in South Australia decree that you need a pool blanket for a pool. It is one of the best things we have bought for our pool! It raises the water temperature and keeps it warm for longer. We have enjoyed our pool much more since getting the pool blanket. It also stops evaporation too.

We are so glad to be finished Mr 13's room. Now on to the next project. The entry and hallway. Stand by for progress photos of the hallway!

My week

I can't believe that it is Friday! This week has gone by so quickly. Well, I have achieved some things. Mr 13's room is finished and today we will move him in. I'll show you some photos when his furniture is in. I have also been to IKEA twice. Okay. I know it's an obsession. It's up there with fabric and patchwork shops in my life. Anyway, I have a good excuse for the two visits. I went to help two different people. I have also signed up to make a softie for Mirabel and Mike. Notice I said "signed up" and not "made". I don't often make softies, but it seems like a good cause so I thought I would help out.

This photo is another one taken at Melba's (the chocolate factory) on the weekend. Don't you just love trees? I do. I couldn't resist taking a photo of this beautiful fig tree. Fruit trees are one of my favourite types of trees. I also love tree shade. I remember being a small child when I realised that the shade from trees was "better" than other shade. It's cooler and more refreshing than man made shade. Living in a hot place I appreciate the quality of tree shade.
These jam labels are also from Melba's. I took this photo because I remember the jam label's from my breakfast table as a child. Growing up I was an avid reader and I spent a lot of time looking at labels because they had words on them.
This is Mr 7 on a comfy chair at Melba's. The chair was carved out of a piece of wood and he loved it! It fitted him perfectly! Back to the crafting grindstone!

A day at Woodside

We had to go to the Adelaide Hills today. I was quite pleased about this, because my favourite patchwork shop (the Patchwork Apple) is in the Hills. We made a flying stop to the patchapple (our family's nickname for that shop!) and then we went to the chocolate factory in Woodside. I had never been there before. Today was a lovely day. Cool and gray with intermittent rain. My favourite kind of day.

So, not only is it a chocolate factory, but it's a shop too! They have lots of chocolates and even lollies for sale. Apparently the building used to be a butter factory and they have some old butter making equiptment on display.
They also have lots of chocolate/lolly memorabilia on display too. Don't you LOVE the giant life saver packet?
This is the view across the road from the factory. If you ignore the stuff at the bottom of the photo it's pretty picturesque. It was drizzling when I took the photo, hence the haze in the distance.
For some reason I've loaded this photo sideways. ( So much for my incredible new computer skills!) These are Mr 7's brand new pajamas. A little crumpled because I finished them yesterday and he wanted to wear them straight away, so they're slept in. The zebras came from spotlight a few years ago. (Hey! I'm a sewer. It goes without saying that my house is full of fabric. What else do you insulate cupboards with?)
The weekend is the time I "plan" out the next week. I say "plan" loosely because I don't plan so much as dream about what I could achieve next week. I had a great day today, so my dreams for next week are kind of large and unachievable! Let's see how I go. I dream of sewing, knitting, painting, writing, planning for "Art the Hart" (a festival/market at Port Adelaide), and lots more!

November

It's November! This week's knitting is a scarf. OK. I know that a scarf is nothing exciting, but this one is kind of pretty. I'm using two 8ply acrylic yarns and 6.5mm needles and a broken rib. So much easier than rib. I love fat yarn and fat needles! It makes it go so fast. I am doing a little each morning and evening and when I need to take a project with me. Knitting is so portable.

Work is progressing slowly on Mr 13's room. They are in the middle of laying a floating floor. They've got a whole team thing happening with Bradley on the saw and Mr 13 actually laying the floor. He's getting quite good at it. Their only problem is finding time! Oh! And the room is difficult. Most of the corners are not 90 degree corners, so there's lots of cutting to do.

I have been visiting Cherry Menlove's new forum. (Cherry of Pixie Wood) It's lots of fun! Pop in and chat if you like!

And not so fun was reading about "Meet Me At Mike's" sign being stolen. Vandalism is just so thoughtless and unkind. And expensive.

It's interesting, because this internet community must really be a community. I'm enjoying visiting with "friends" on Cherry's forum and I really felt upset to read about Mike's problems! See you later guys!

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!

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!!!

Proof that I'm getting old!

Here I am with proof! Blogger is working again so I'm providing the proof. This is my niece with her brand new husband. They were both so happy and a wonderful day was had by all. Just look at their faces! Remember how that felt? It was such a long time ago! Hence the feeling old. Enough being old!
It was a big weekend because Mr 6 turned 7 as well. His sister, Miss 17, made him a chocolate cake with chocolate icing. Yum. This is him blowing out his candles!
Also as promised a glimpse of the quilt Picklesticks and I are working on. It is the result of a party, calico, and a whole bunch of marking devices. We have a bunch of blocks that are this size and the next step is to put them together. I'll let you know how it goes!
Cool dragon, huh? I have also been working on clothes for my kids too. The top below was made from a pattern my Mum used for me in the 70's! I modified it somewhat because she was very taken with some tops she had seen in the shops and while they were similar to mine they were not exactly the same! My top was made out of light blue and white striped seerasucker. OH! I know that's not how you spell that! Doesn't it look awful, however, I'm too tired to look it up! Hers is made out of a mark-down from spotlight. I think I paid $6 for about 5 or 6 m of fabric on a roll. She is smaller than I was so I had to adjust the pattern for size too. She really likes it and wants me to make some more just like it!
I also made a nightie for her too. Both yesterday and Saturday were incredibly hot and Saturday night was very uncomfortable, so I decided to provide her with a cool comfy nightie! This was a kwik sew pattern that a friend had given me. It worked beautifully despite the fact that it was designed for stretch knits only and I used a woven fabric. In the original the front yoke was one piece. I made it be 2 with buttons and button holes, so she could get it over her head.
In fact it was so successful I am going to make another! I think I will put photos of the patterns I used here too so you can see my translation of the patterns! More sewing this week too. Practical sewing only - but I enjoy that too.

I'm getting old.

Hmmm..... Was going to give you photographic evidence of my advancing years but apparently blogger's photo uploading service is having problems. Suffice it to say I'm getting old! I went to my neice's wedding yesterday and it is this event which makes me feel incredibly old. I have a daughter married for 3 years, but that doesn't make me feel as old as this wedding did. My little sister's baby got married. Weird, huh? Well, I will have to try again later. I have photos of the potential quilt I've been working on and everything! (it's not a quilt until it's quilted!) Back later!

Papercrafts too!

This has been a busy week. Knitting, papercrafts, sewing clothes, and even some quilting! I know! I have even amazed myself! It has been a fun week. I made this accordian book earlier in the week. It had ten pages and I filled it with photos and cool paper and sent it to my daughter overseas.

This is something I always wanted to make, but was too afraid to try. Hmmm... it's foolish to be afraid to try. I had fun making this book and filling it up. The paint on the wall behind the book is Dulux Maximus. The darkest blue you can have before you have to call it black!

Whilst I was busy with my accordian book Miss 10 caught the papercraft bug and decided to make some christmas cards. Her Dad was most impressed with the card below. He thought it would have taken hours to cut out the letters. Umm... no. The letters came like that!
This photo is a little blurry, but you get the idea. The tree cutouts came from officeworks after christmas last year. You know, cheap!

Today Picklesticks and I have been putting a quilt top together. Haven't taken any photos yet. More later.

"These are a few of our favourite things..."

(Another post about my new camera, but disguised slightly so that Tina doesn't think I'm photo-obsessed.)

One of the most interesting things about my new camera are the photos my youngest 2 have been taking! It gives you an interesting insight into what they are thinking. The photos in this post were all taken by Miss 10 and Mr 6. (I haven't included any of the 6 trillion I have of their feet - they were there I guess! - or the 15 zillion I have of a child and a camera in a mirror!)


Mr 6 loves marbles. He and Mr 13 spent a large portion of last week playing marbles. The marbles are kept in a box that someone older (I can't remember who) made for marbles some years ago. This cardboard portion fits into a larger box with other sections and smaller boxes. Things in our house tend to get passed on to younger children as the older ones develop new interests. (These marbles have probably been replaced by an MP3 player!)

This photo was taken by Miss 10. She loves her new red shoes. She is starting to grow up! A love of red shoes must be genetic because it's a love shared by my mother and by at least 2 other daughters.
Miss 10 has a new backpack. It's loved for it's colour and because we bought it as a new basketball bag for her. This week the new summer season starts and she can't wait!

I'm not sure which one of them took this photo, but this is one of my favourite things. I appreciate the fact that they understand what is important to me!

This is a photo of a sunset from our backyard. It's beautiful, isn't it? Mr 6 took this. It's interesting that he chose to photograph this. He told me that he was looking for beautiful things to photograph and knew he would find something outside. I think I need to spend more time outside looking for beautiful things! I hope you have a beautiful sunset at your house too!

I've been knitting!!!

I was talking to a friend on the phone this morning. She had just been given some fleece to spin and said that she wasn't ready for it to be spring. She is busy making a rug and she wants it to be winter! I guess I'm feeling the same way, because I have been knitting! Perhaps this feeling is a backlash to the 31 degree celcius days the weather beaureu keep trying to pass off as spring (hey! it's got to be someone's fault!) or perhaps I've been reading too many northern hemisphere blogs waxing lyrical about the chill in the air! Whatever it is I have been knitting (and I'm not a knitter - which is something I'm going to have to stop saying if I do much more knitting!).


Maybe it's more to do with the fact that our local discount department stores are clearing out their yarn and now I can afford to buy some! I really love berets and have always been too scared to knit one. What was I scared about? To my great surprise it's just like knitting a beanie! Why didn't someone tell me this before? So, if you've ever longed to knit a beret, but were too afraid to start, rush right in and DO IT! Hey! I'm such a scardy-cat. This yarn is Carnival Fair Isle Effects from Big W. I bought some to try, but I don't think it works. It's definitely multi- coloured, but that's about it.

Of course this has not detered the many people in my house who love to appropriate the things I knit. "Why did you knit a beret in this weather Mum?" was quickly followed by "Can I have it?" and "What's Fair Isle anyway? Cool colours Mum." So this is a photo of Miss 15 wearing the first beret I produced. It's hers now.

I have also knitted a scarf. My eldest daughter is now a spinner. This is something that impresses me greatly. If you want to see some of her work go to picklesticks and have a look. She very kindly spun some brown fleece for me and I turned it into this scarf. I knitted the scarf on 8mm needles and did a garter stitch border with lattice in the centre (see the detail below).

I am still enjoying knitting and I'm working on another beret at the moment. When it gets too hot I might stop, but I'm just knitting small things so I don't think they will "make me hot" whilst knitting. Oh well, back to the knitting!

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.

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.