Matching Pegs

It feels like Spring is here in Melbourne, and some of my favourite Camellias are now in bloom.  This is a little variegated one that we have in the backyard.  I love not only the colour, but the shape of the flowers as well.  The only one on the property ( out of 8 ) that I planted, has the same form, and it just started flowering.  It is called Black Tie (It is the only one that I have a name for) and it looks like this, just beautiful……

Last night I was out babysitting at my friend Debbie’s house.  Her boys were so well behaved, and best of all, Debbie had her sewing machine set up on the table for me to use in the peace and quiet.  I turned this series of numbered piles of fabric……..

into this….. slightly less piles of fabric, and four rows out of 11 sewn up.  This was the Layer Cake of Chez Moi Charisma that I purchased at the Craft and Quilt Fair last month.

It is the only sewing I have done on the machine in ages, perhaps I will have to babysit for Debbie more often .  I have progressed on the first of The Wish Quilt stitcheries by Bronwyn Hayes.  I am really happy with the variegated thread, except perhaps for the beard on Father Christmas (he is always Father Christmas to me, not Santa) which turned out to be the brightest red (you can’t really tell in this photo how bright it is, compared to the other stitching around it).  Perhaps, like all unexpected outcomes, it will grow on me.

These sweet little beads are some I picked up last weekend at this charming venue, where we had Amelia’s birthday party.  I think they are called lamp work beads.

The plan had been to have a sewing party at home, but we decided to change that plan a few weeks ago.  Amelia’s best friend at school left at the end of last term, and she has been resettling into a new larger group of friends.  We would not have been able to accommodate the 9 friends she eventually invited, at a party in our little house.  The party was a great hit, and beading was a creative, fun activity, which also sent the kids home with some really cool things to keep.  We will save the sewing party idea for next year with a smaller guest list.

So back to the beads above.  I asked the ladies in the shop to add the pin through the middle of the beads, with the loop at the top, while the party was underway.  For a very minimal cost, I now have three sets of danglies to hang off my sleeper earrings.  This is what my sleepers used to look like.

And now they look like this….

I am really pleased with them.

Here is somehing else I am really pleased with, this is something I am really looking forward to making.

This is the pattern I ordered to make up an apron using the fabulous fabric from Lily.  I have found some fabric in my stash to go with it, but I am not sure yet if I have enough.  The pattern calls for more, but I think with some creative cutting, I may be able to eek out enough to get by.

Happy Birthday our little ray of sunshine.

You surprise us every day with your confidence, and the joy you get out of life. You smile more than any other member of the family, and have done so since you were a tiny baby. Here you are when you were 3 days old.

Your arrival completed our family, and never has a baby been more cuddled than you.

At three months old when you had an uncomfortable hip brace fitted, the lady fitting it was amazed at your good humor…”This is usually when they start howling”. Every couple of months when they adjusted it, you were so good for the orthotist, and she was always impressed with you sunny disposition.  in fact, most people are usually impressed with your sunny disposition.

This is you when you were 11 months old. You love to join in with any game that the big kids are playing – you often get to be the sick patient, or the student, not to mention Darth Vader.  What ever you are, you always join in, and imagine along with the action.

This is when you were 17months old, and it is one of my favourite photo’s of you, with your big blue eyes and your smile.

In fact, with your smile you can get away with almost anything.

Micky Moo, no matter what, remember that we love you, always. We are so lucky to be your Mum and Dad.

*Michaela’s birthday was yesterday, but we were too busy celebrating it for me to write this post.

I was on a roll.  Here is the cake of the day, a pink Ladybird as requested.

I guess you could say that I have been mostly missing in action this week.  I am finally feeling a lot better and getting back on the blogging horse, but I still owe a lot of emails – apologies if you have not had a reply from me.  I was really excited to have all the comments on my logos, I will be sure to keep you up to date when the committee chooses one for me to finesse, next month.

Thursday found me on my own for the afternoon (finally no sick children at home), and I managed to get my hair cut.  I am pretty pleased with the result.

This is the shortest it has been in quite a while, (see here for a “before” from earlier in the year) and I am enjoying feeling lighter and bouncier!

This morning we had Amelia’s birthday party with her friends, which is a whole other post, but while on the topic of hair you have to check out this groovy do…..

Amelia has wanted a cake like this for a few years, and I think ours turned out even better than the Women’s Weekly Kid’s Cakes version.

Ours was certainly a team effort. I made the cake. Luke applied the skin, the collar and the eyebrow ring.  I sculpted the facial features and all three kids applied the hair.

She was quite popular at the party, so hopefully I am on a roll, because this evening I will be icing a ladybird.  Under strict instructions from tomorrow’s birthday girl (Michaela) I am going to make this ladybird pink, not red.  I will be sure to post photos.  After Michaela’s 3rd birthday tomorrow, life might return to some semblance of normal.  Bring on Spring.

Health Update: Amelia and Rory – Good as New.  Luke – Has dodged the virus completely.  Claire and Michaela – On the mend, but still a bit droopy.  Life is starting to return to normal.  I still owe a lot of people an email, and the house looks like a bomb has hit it though.

Here is a look at the logos that I made for the kinder to consider, but firstly a look at the current logo…..

It took me a year or two to diplomatically find out that this was designed by someone long gone from the Preschool.  I really hate it.  A teacher from long ago drew the stick-figures, and the play equipment they are on, not to mention the lovely hand drawn wording.  The burgundy is such a lovely, youthful touch don’t you think?

 I presented all the logos in Black and White, because the place that they are most visible, is on the kid’s T-shirts and Windcheaters.  On these, they are printed in one colour to keep costs down for families.  So here is the first one of mine – a very straight logo.  The Preschool has a very large tree in the playground, and the kids all like to collect the leaves, which look like this…

The next two are based on children’s drawings, which is what most Preschools tend to do.  I used drawings that I had from when the older two were at Preschool.  They needed a little bit of modification – they have to be legible when they are very small on letterhead, as well as large, on the Preschool building.

I call this the Jumping Man Logo, and the one below is known as the Spotty Creature Logo.

Finally I presented a logo that represented growing, singing and playing.  I presented this one both in B&W as well as colour, to give the committee an idea of how I might use colour, once they chose one of the options.  Here is the Birdie logo, in colour, but not necessarily the colour it would end up as.

So I will find out in a month which one they like best.  I am not a graphic designer, I sure a professional could do better, but I did it for free, and I had fun, so hopefully it is a win-win situation.  Anything has to be better than what the preschool currently has!  Which one do you like?

I guess it was inevitable. Michaela and I have succumbed to the dreaded virus.

This weekend was full of family related birthday activities for Amelia’s birthday (Going out to a Chinese lunch being one of them), which I managed to make it through, but completely crashed on Sunday.  Here is a shot of Amelia with her candles, wearing the scarf I secretly made her about a month ago.

The cake is a pretty run of the mill (but yummy) chocolate cake.  Amelia has put in an order for a castle for next weekend’s birthday party with her friends.  At this stage I am not sure if I am up for it.

Mickey Moo and I were packed off to bed on Sunday afternoon, and apart from sleeping for a couple of hours, I also made a little start on this.

One silver lining, from Rory’s horrible ear infection (a secondary infection from the virus I now have) is the little bottle from his medicine.  The glass bottle with the childproof lid was perfect to keep tiny buttons in, that I purchased for this project.  Now a certain little person can look safely.

Tonight I am going to stagger off to a Preschool Committee meeting, to present 4 alternatives to the current (appalling) logo.  I will give you all a peek when I am well enough to think straight again.  I will leave you with a look at the last candle standing, I am quite pleased with the photo.

Happy 8th Birthday our wonderful, talented, big girl.

You are our super-imaginative, creative girl, who eight years ago turned a couple into a family.

You were the youngest of our three to smile, at 11 days old.  Here you are on that day giving Daddy one of your best!  Even from those early days, you would follow conversations with your eyes, always curious about what was going on.  These days you like to think deeply about the things you hear, and often ask us questions, ages after we have forgotten the conversation.

You walked earlier than you brother or sister (11 months and one week) and people used to stop and stare at this tiny girl walking by herself.  You are not such a “little dot” now .

Here you are with Rory (when you were 4 and 3/4 and he was almost 3) and we can see you holding Michaela when she was only 3 days old (You were just 5).  You are a fantastic big sister, always making up wonderful games that you can all play together.  In fact, most people who know you talk about your wonderful imagination, as well as your fantastic drawing.  We are proud of you, our clever girl, who tries so hard to do things perfectly; just don’t forget that mistakes are part of life, and remember to always make new ones.

Here is one of my favourite photos of you, when you were 21 months old, just before Rory was born.

No matter what, remember that we love you, always. We are so lucky to be your Mum and Dad.

Yesterday, after an invitation from Debbie and Noah, Michaela and I (along with Leigh and Madison) ventured across to the other side of town to visit “Scienceworks“.  The three of us Mums have each got a son in Prep this year, and a younger sibling of around 3 years old (I’m the only one with a third child).  The three littlies had a wonderful time in the Nitty Gritty Super City, which is designed for 3 – 8 year olds.  Michaela looks particularly tiny perched on the top of the Penny Farthing bike, with her two little friends in the background.

I was extremely pleased to get out, after having a sick child at home for days (thanks Ladies).  Today I had another sick child at home, Amelia.  She lay on the couch and watched “The Princess Bride” this morning (a wonderful movie for the whole family) followed by her first viewing of “The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe”.  I had not seen it, and thought it was a good opportunity for her to watch it without younger siblings in case it was a bit scary.  I loved every one of the Narnia Chronicles as a kid, which she is yet to read ( I purchased a thick volume of them all recently)  but found the movie a bit slow.  She has not been as sick as Rory, and we are hoping she will be back to normal tomorrow for her birthday – please send healthy thoughts our way.

Last night the finishing touches were added to the farewell present for “Ms Superteacher*”.

I dressed the little dolly, and added her hair.  Amelia did a fair bit of the Thank-you embroidery on the apron.  We are both pretty pleased with how she turned out.  Her dress is made of the same fabric as Amelia’s reader bag that she uses daily at school, so hopefully she will remind Ms Superteacher* of Amelia.

Yesterday morning, after returning from the school drop off, I heard a knock at the door.  A package! I won a giveaway from the lovely Lily at “Block A Day“.  Here is a look at the contents.

This fabric was a special find of Lily’s, in a funny little shop, and she calls the print “Our Lady of the Many Talents” because of what the Lovely Mexican “Our Ladys” are doing.  On the selvage it is called Tree of Life by Kathy Hall, (Museum of new Mexico, Museum of International Folk Art, under licence to Andover Fabrics).  It is amazing fabric and Lily has very generously sent me a whole metre of it.  Also in the package was a few photo/cards of Lily’s work, if you have not seen her site “Block a Day” then you really must.

Not only is Lily super talented, but she is extremely prolific, her sewing output is amazing.  She is also so warm and positive, and when we discovered each others sites, I quickly found I had made a new friend, (of course I suspect Lily has that talent of making everyone she corresponds with online feel like they are her instant friend – pretty tricky to accomplish when you have not met in “Real Life”).  As Amelia put it yesterday afternoon, “If you comment on her blog, and she comments on yours, she is like a pen-friend Mum”.   Anyhow, my favourite of the little cards is her Easter Table Runner, which Amelia loved as well, “Look Mum, Yo-Yo’s!”.   Michaela loves them all, and they keep disappearing with her.

So back to the Tree of Life Fabric.  Because Lily has been so generous, I think I have enough to make a new apron.  I’m a one apron kind of gal, I always wear the same one, unless it is in the wash.  My current apron is a canvas one with botanical illustrations on it, that I gave my Grandmother.  I was given it back when she passed away.  Because I wear an apron every time I cook the evening meal, it is getting grubby and worn in an unwashable type of way.  I think it is time for a new one.  Now all I have to do is find a co-ordinating fabric or two, and this project can join the queue .

What is in your project queue?

*not her real name