Matching Pegs

Way back in January 2008, when I started this blog, one of my first posts was about this handbag that belonged to my Great Aunt Rita.  It is one of my most treasured possessions, and I always wished that I knew more about it.

Thanks to a recent episode of Collectors, I now know that it is a Lucite Handbag, probably from the 50′s.  “Lucite is a type of plastic which was used in aeroplane manufacturing during the World War II. After the war, it was allowed for use in the production of luxury goods including Lucite handbags.  These glamorous bags were made in America and almost entirely in New York”.

There are no trademarks on the bag so I am not sure which manufacturer made it, but it sounds like it is highly collect-able.   As mine is in very good condition, it could be worth a bit, but of course it is worth far more than money to me.

On another note, here is a really interesting (long) article about measuring childrens’ ability to delay gratification, and what that indicates about their ability to achieve in life.  It starts off describing “The marshmallow experiment” from the 1960′s where pre-school kids were given a marshmallow, and told they could eat it, but if they could wait until the researcher returned, without eating it, they could have two, instead of just one.  Only about 30% of kids could wait, and some kids ate the first one almost immediately.  The article is about the ability to master self control, and I found it via Unclutterer, another interesting website about taking control of the stuff in your life.  The people at Unclutterer mention the article in the context of training yourself into “having routines in place that keep the clutter out of your home and office and the self control and diligence to systematically complete the routines that keep your life in order.  Doing these not-so-fun tasks everyday ultimately pay off because you have more time and less stress in your life overall”.

It all sounds so good – I read Unclutterer because I wish I was a little better at dealing with all the “stuff” in my life (school notices, bills especially) but it all makes me wonder – as a 4 year old, would I have eaten that Marshmallow – would my kids?

What about you?  mmmmmm, marshmallow………

The other day I turned this little pile of clothes and some polar fleece into this – Mr Olden Days Rory!

He was visiting an historical school/farmyard/community type setup with his school (not Sovereign Hill, one closer to home).

He had a great day, but “It will take too long to tell you all about it Mum”!

I did learn that he did really like the blacksmith a lot though.

Thanks for the compliments on my quilt for Amelia – I don’t really have time to reply to comments at the moments.

I am spending my free time building a website to coordinate helpers who are stepping in to help one of the families in our local community.  The father of the family has been struck down with a flesh eating disease, and has had extensive surgery on his arm to save his life.  He will be having skin grafts and rehab for about a year.  This has been very scary and a major blow, especially as he is the worker and driver of the family – his wife is vision impaired.  If any of you out there have used the web to co-ordinate help in a similar way, I would love to hear from you.

Anyway, back to Old Time Rory – I think his lost teeth (yes, he has already lost another one) make him look even more cute and old-timeish.  if only it wasn’t so hard to get him to smile!

I continue having intermittent problems with uploading images, which is why this post is several days later than I planned – Damm that error 404!

Now I can show you a quilt that is finally close to being finished – one that I started a whole 5 years ago.

This quilt itself is pretty traditional, but I like to think that the colours I have chosen are a little bit different to the usual choices that people make for little girl’s quilts.  If the colours do not show up accurately on your monitor, they are….. buttery yellow, aqua and pale aqua, dusky mauves and purples, dusky salmon pinks and dusky red.

I used a pattern from Rosalie Quinlan to make this quilt – the pattern is called “Rebekah Amy’s Quilt” and according to the pattern it is named after Rosalie’s eldest daughter.

This particular quilt was made for Amelia’s bed, and has been sitting in a cupboard as a lonely quilt top, (aka flimsy) waiting to be quilted.  After making a new friend at NOTY Quilters Guild, who happens to be a long arm quilter, I decided it was time to finish that quilt.  Anita (Hillside Quilting in Warrandyte) quilted a beautiful all over pattern on the quilt in a softly coloured variegated thread.

I am super happy with the result and have just finished the binding.  All that is left is to make a nice label, and it is done.

How many flimsys are in your cupboard?

*One of the catch phrases from Kath and Kim, the original Aussie version of course.

Rory lost his first tooth today, with very little warning.  Unlike the way his big sister deals with loose teeth, I think he helped it along a fair bit.  It is amazing how much the loss of one tooth changes his appearance.  I took this photo of Rory in front of our Scarlet Oak, which matched his school shirt perfectly.

I often take photos of my work, using the foliage in the garden as a backdrop.  Inspired by this practice, Michaela decided to direct a little photo shoot of her own.

This is her Angel-teddy in two of her poses.

I had a fabulous Mothers Day on Sunday – I was spoilt with a wonderful breakfast, (bacon and eggs, toast and tea) and a delicious afternoon tea of banana cake and choc chip cookies – all made by my wonderful family.  The kids choose presents from the school Mothers day stall that they had really put a lot of thought into, and Michaela ate me some lovely chocolates.  That’s right – Michaela made me some chocolates at kinder which were hidden in the house with her big sisters help – chocolates I knew nothing about.  I learnt about them when she appeared and told me……

“there are only 2 left Mummy”

“2 what Michaela?”

“2 choccies”

Either there was only a small amount of milk in the chocolate, or Michaela may be starting to grow out of her milk allergy, as she seemed to have no adverse effects from her surreptitious snack.  Oh well – it is the thought that counts right?

Another great thing about Mothers Day was that the sun was shining on us, and our washing – I have been a mother for almost 9 years – I have maternal priorities that I just can’t hide.

How was your Mothers Day?

There was a time when I knew how to party – it feels like a lifetime ago – and to combine it with my need to create.  You can see here that I wasn’t the only one.  This Space Party was planned by 3 young design graduates, back when we still had no money, but some time on our hands after work.

Our bestest friend Peter had the party at his share house (where Luke’s brother also resided) but we all planned it together.  We decorated Peter’s place with all sorts of props, which looked much cooler than they do here – it is all about the lighting.

The party was actually lit with a black light (UV light) which made some things look fluorescent, but it was too hard to photograph and the flash makes these photos look like they were taken in daylight.

The black light made tonic water glow in the dark – so Luke was drinking G and T’s against much advice about the evils of Gin.  He was wearing an ensemble that included a swimming cap that was hooked up to the hose from an old fashioned hairdryer.  With thick white face paint, he looked like he was a bald white being, with a tube hooked up to his head.  Sadly, after a few G and T’s, his face paint (which was coconut scented) started peeling off, and he became as sick as I have ever seen him.  I think we still have the remainder of that bottle of Gin somewhere, which has not been touched since.

We had all sorts of spacey folk there, but these two had my favorite costumes.  Mark and Ro had exploding alien stomachs.

As part of my costume I had quite a bit of makeup on, and sparkly spray in my hair.  I wound my hair up in a high bun on my head and then arranged the ends of my hair to fall down on my forehead like a very short fringe.  I wore some furry feathery stuff on my head that covered up my bun, and when I arrived at the party, early before any other guests, Peter did not even know it was me.  I guess I looked pretty different.

Tell me about your favourite costume at a party – or even better, why don’t you blog about it.

I finally finished that little quilt to match the bunny.  I decided that it didn’t look to towely after all.

As you can see I made it for a little baby girl called Alani – who is not so tiny any more, but several months old.  As her family was moving house, I waited a little while to make a gift, but then I took a little while longer when life got really busy.  All it needs now is a little label and it is in the post.  Luckily I can show it to you – I don’t think they are blog readers (I hope).

While I took my photos, on the deck, in the lovely Autumn sunshine, I had company.

Who keeps you company while you work on your projects?

* That post headline was actually a typo, but I liked the word Quilty so I kept it right up there.

Hello.  Is anyone still out there?

I disappeared for all that time, (a whole 13 days – a record blog break for me) I would not be surprised if you had all forgoten I existed.

I have been really busy, making-up-a-storm, but nothing I can show you, (all secret project stuff) which is so not the way a crafty blog works.

How about I show you what an internet friend (Hi Rachel) has made on the other side of the world -something I designed.

I sent Rachel a little piece of calico, with my design “Flowers from Melbourne” drawn on it.  I designed it back in 2007 for my Uncle and Aunt in Toronto, as a gift for when I visited them.  Rachel has embroidered it in colours that she loves, and this is her first “proper” go at embroidery (her words).  She says she is now hooked – so I have made a convert.  It is quiet strange to see it in other colours, and to know it is on the other side of the world – Lovely!  Well done Rachel.

You can see my original here, and read about how I apply the colour to the flowers prior to stitching.

Yesterday we had a lovely day out.  We went to that temple of Melbourne culture – The G (aka The MCG, or The Melbourne Cricket Ground).

While named (and internationally famous) for the cricket that is played there in summer – it is considered equally the home of Australian Rules Football (the footy) which is a winter game.

We went there to see out two family teams play – The Mighty Hawks v’s the Blues (can you tell who I barrack for).  Thanks to my Dad (and his Hawthorn Membership), we got superb seats, almost behind the goals, on the bottom level.  There were about 69,000 there – it was a popular game.

We were close enough for Rory to take a photo of his favourite player Lance “Buddy” Franklin (that’s him in the brown and gold).  Not only was the weather perfect (it is often bitterly cold at the footy) but the game was really close and very exciting.  Best of all the right team won – by a whisker – when the final kick hit the post earning a point rather than a goal leaving the Hawks in front -and jubilant.  Luke was not so happy with the result – his face crumpled when he realised that the Blues had lost.

Being at the G was a return of sorts for me.  I had not been for 11 years, since I finished working there.  For 4 years I spent all weekend, every weekend of the footy season, working in the corporate boxes, (and the summer cricket season as well).

You can see the glassy fronts of them here (follow the red arrow).  I started waitressing in the boxes, but by the time I finished, I was supervising half the boxes in the stand – which meant I did a lot of walking every weekend.

Today was a quiet day at home.   I managed to finish these two little gifts – only one more baby gift to make and we are at the end of the baby boom amongst people we know.

I might even have more to show you tomorrow.