Matching Pegs

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.

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

I think I have established that I am a little funny and a little precious about my pegs.  Not only do I like them to match when I am hanging out the washing, but I also house them in style (see banner picture) and I never leave them out in the weather.  Once I have pegged out the washing, I bring the basket of remaining pegs back into the house, so neither the pegs, nor the basket fade (or get wet) anymore than they will through use.  Not yesterday. 

I have a sick little boy at home at the moment, and he called out to me while I was hanging out the washing so I abandoned the peg basket to it’s fate (after all people are more important than pegs you know).  Later I discovered that a large bird (Probably a Pied Currawong - there are lots about at the moment) had been using my basket for target practice.

The mess the bird left may be more than a wash in the machine can fix, as the bird had clearly been enjoying the berries you see at the top of this post.  Redecoration may be in order.

That little guy you see in the picture is a little brass Wombat, who is actually a sprinkler.  I have never used him (we are not allowed to use sprinklers, unless they are watering with tank water) but he makes a nice ornament if you ignore the nozzle fitting coming out his left side.

On Monday, Amelia found out that her class teacher will be taking a position at an exclusive Catholic boys school, and will be finishing up next Friday, on Amelia’s birthday.  We are all very sad about this as she is an excellent teacher and a lovely person.  To show our gratitude for the time she has spent as Amelia’s teacher, the two of us have embarked on a project together.  Here is our WIP.

Amelia is going to embroider “Thank You Ms Superteacher*” on the little apron.  I just have to assemble this little lady, and add some hair.  This is a pattern I have making up for years, either as Christmas Angels, or cloth dolls.  I usually make Christmas Angels for the classroom teachers, as the school year in Australia finishes at Christmas time.

So what do you all make for Teacher presents?

* not her real name, but Amelia will be embroidering her real name. 

While I had my folder of patterns out, I found another that I thought I would show you for The Friday Archive.  These are more Christmas ornaments, in the shape of stars.  One for each member of the family.  We have five, that feature our First and Middle names on one side, and our birth dates on the other. 

Several years ago I made 12 for my Mother-in-Law, one for each of her Grandchildren.  I have since added 2 more, and will need to make another this November.  That page on the right hand side is a page of swatches of fabrics that I have used, so that I can choose fabric for new stars, that fit in with the others.

After a few weekends off due to bad weather, construction resumed this weekend on our fort/cubby/space station (Rory is absolutely Lego-Star-Wars Mad, and has decided that we have a space station in our backyard).  First the frame for the roof was completed.

And then, an exciting trip to the hardware store to select a roofing material.  Luke settled on wide fence palings, as the cheapest, aesthetically pleasing option.  He put these up in spite of a rain shower that sent the kids inside.

We plan to paint the whole structure when the weather improves.  Meanwhile inside I made yet another Log Cabin cushion - the final one.  Here is the before shot.

and here is the after…

And for those that are interested, here is a view of the backs of the cushions, which are all made from fabrics that I purchased at Purl Patchwork in NYC.

The Matroyshka fabric backed cushion was the first one I made, and I put the zip where I usually do.  Once I started making the others, I made the decision to use two different fabrics on the back, and because I bought such small amounts in NYC, I had to place the zips lower down, so the backs are all different.

The fabric makes me happy every time I look at it.

Finally here is a link to a site that made me more than happy.  It made me laugh so hard that, (like every cliche), tears streamed down my cheeks, and my stomach was sore.  It is a site about Cake Wrecks, cakes that are just wrong, and it was the post titled “Get Me Holly Hobbie’s Head on a Platter” that really had me in hysterics.

I found this site via a link on, Emmzeegee’s website.  Emmzeegee was a friend that I worked with back when I was childless (and so was she) and I have only reconnected with her recently.  She has triplets who are now 7 years old, who I last saw when they were about 6 months old.  Two of the triplets share first names in common with my twin brother and I, which is kind of cool (but a complete coincidence).  Anyway, check out the cakes, they are great for a laugh!

We had a beautiful sunset tonight and I could not resist sharing it with you.  This is the view across the top of the neighbouring houses.  As a family we all went to see Kung Fu Panda this afternoon, which was actually not bad as far as school holiday movies go.  It was Michaela’s first movie and apart from moving between Luke at one end of our 5 seats, and myself at the other, she made it through the whole movie without making lots of noise.

Here is an update on the fort/lookout/cubby in the backyard.

This was Luke working out how high the step needed to be, so that Michaela could climb up.

She was a real little Tradey, helping out Daddy.

Saturday found us at an enormous play centre, celebrating Rory’s birthday with his friends.

The party was a great success, and Rory was particularly impressed with the cake.

Of course, It had to be baked in someone else’s oven (thanks Leigh!), but it was the Hawks decoration that Luke put on the top that won Rory’s praise.

As Amelia put it, “That was so good of you Daddy, to make a Hawthorn Cake, when your team is Carlton“.*

Sunday was quieter, but no less busy.

We spent quite a bit of time in the garden, planting my birthday plants, pruning, and enjoying the plants that we already have. Michaela was busy pulling the buds off the Camellias, and wanted to make sure I got a picture of her treasurers

In the photo above, you might be able to see a peek of another flower, of the felt variety, that I made this weekend.

These clips were heavily inspired by a motif that is often seen on Asian textiles, the cherry blossom. I made one in a coral colour and another in purple.

This one is actually a little present for a birthday girl - I am looking forward to seeing what it looks like in her hair.

Finally, some late afternoon sewing - an unfinished project. Can you guess what I am making?

*These teams are Australian Rules Football teams, for those of you who have never heard of the Hawks or the Blues.

I have finally finished the last two Butterflies for Brooke’s library Bag. I just have to sew around the lettering of her name, and make it up. Then I promise I will give you a look at the finished project.

Here is a look at all the threads that I used to needle turn the butterflies, I just loved how they looked together. Now I’m off for Rebecca’s Birthday Party, have a good weekend!

It is an overcast winters day here at the house of Matching Pegs. We are enjoying the long weekend, thanks to her Majesty, and the remembrance of her natal day! Today we are all pottering about, doing our own thing on the home front. Luke and Rory have been performing tree surgery on the Magnolia tree, which seemed to have a diseased limb. Michaela and Amelia are playing with dolls, which seem to alternate between being sick, and learning at school. This has left me free to keep going with my Butterflies.

I have created them using the needle-turn method, and I am very pleased with them. I have 3 more to create for Brooke’s Library Bag. What are you making today?