Back in Business....
Haven't been far away, just getting caught up in the frenetic Christmas Pre-Season.
We put the tree up today and the kids are excited already- hope they don't peak too early, it seems like a long time to keep telling Rylan "not yet"- he's been asking if Santa's coming tonight for weeks now.
It's got me thinking though about the whole business of filling our kids head with magic and a mysterious man in a red suit who prowls our house while we're all sleeping. I know, somewhere deep down in my scientifically trained being that it's wrong on some level to lead them down the garden path. But, it also instills in them a feeling of the unknown, the magical and fanciful...I think that's why I sew more at Christmas than any other time of year. Gifts, decorations and dress-ups are all integral to a festive season- I love it, and the memories of childhood that do with it.
I remember angel costumes with tinsel wrapped around coat-hanger wire halo's, fashioned lovingly by mum's year after year, just so bad versions of the little drummer boy could be proudly beamed from assembly.
And let's not forget going to a friends house for Santa to arrive with lollie bags for all the children. We'd sit on his knee and talk and talk for as long as we liked and we never understood why all the parents laughed at him asking the pretty grown up women to sit on his knee....
This year, I'm looking forward to my girls singing at the Christmas assembly...lets hope the little drummer boy gets a look-in, although the secrets out already- I've been enlisted to make a wise-man (woman's) outfit....guess the coat hangers can stay in the cupboard this year!!!!

GRRR...
Image uploader still not playing nice....

A Creative Future....

I went to see Julie and Julia this week, couldn't call myself a blogger if I didn't. It was much better than the book in my opinion. More importantly it got me thinking about the universal theme of women needing something to "do". Julia Childs found cooking, I found sewing- and just as cooking saved Julie Powell, craft has saved me.

But, Julie's hubby made a good point when he insisted that her blog was egocentric and that she lived through it and not with him. I too sit for hours, pouring over lovely blogs instead of speaking to my very saint-Eric-like husband Rod. I'm sure he feels a distant second to my obsession with craft.

Forunately, he gets that without it I'm lost, and with it I'm whole....so here's something that is in production at the moment....

Image uploader not working, photos to come!!!!

Happy Days.....Are Here Again....

This year has been tough. I've tried to spin it as many different ways as I can, but the truth of it is we've had our share of drama and then some in the past 12 months. As a means of self preservation, I've realised that simplicity and ritual are not only soothing for the children, but also for us adults. It's reassuring to find certainty and repetition in our life when eveything around us seems in turmoil.


I think that's why craft has become so central to my life, it's a tangible and productive past-time. It has been ever so productive of late....here's my finished quilt for Rylan....

It started out as the kit called 'Toys for Boys' by Hatched and Patched. But Rylan outgrew his cot before I finished the quilt. So, I added a few panels, ran out of fabric, sourced some that matched, then hand quilted (for the first time) and now, he loves it. He has been a big part of the process, watching it grow and "helping" as only little people know how....

LIFE IN PROGRESS

Okay, so my car has a half eaten chocolate cupcake on the dashboard, thanks to Master 3 yr old, my 'to do' list is getting longer by the minute and I feel like I'm running like one of those little hampsters in a treadmill....round and round and round I go with very little to show for my efforts. The chocolate cupcakes were a little after school treat, how they ended up on my dashboard- half chewed- I'm not even sure.

One major change in me of late is that I'm reading again, I say again because I used to be an avid reader and I lost my way there somewhere in between baby two and three I think. I came across "The Stone Diaries" by Carol Shields and I'm not recommending it as the worlds best read but it was the right fit for me just now and it has changed me somehow- something in me has shifted and I'm liking it.

In amongst all this reading I've made Chloe a pair of camo (pink/grey/white) pants. The pattern said EASY but the waistband, gathered pockets, zipper and buttonhole belied the label. They are pretty damn good if I do say so myself. Pic to follow later....stay tuned....

I made this beanie for Chloe with my limited knitting abilities and it has been a real winner, I'll be sad to see it packed away but the Spring sunshine has inspired some floppy summer hats for us all...P.S: That snowball is intended for me, not you!!!

Tea Party in the Sunshine...

Lucy had a tea party yesterday with some new friends, it was so lovely to see her so happy.

It was awfully girly.....

... and pretty......

.....and pink of course....

and most importantly.....YUMMY!!

Smiles all round....

I made this 'FABULOUS' singlet for her a while back too....and she is....

Crafty Little Lady

SOOOO much craft happening here lately. I made two pillowcases for birthday gifts and it seemed so easy, just whipped them up in a day. I am flying through my stash which is good seeing as though the op-shops have been overflowing with cool fabrics that just want to come home with me. Really, they do...

I've made this.....

.....and this

....both as gifts for Chloe's school friends....She had her hair looking lovely for her last party....

I've decided to use all my favourite fabrics that I've been hoarding, too scared to cut them.... and I'm glad I did. Another of Chloe's friends got this for her birthday last week...

I'm on a roll...hope it lasts....

I'm so overwhelmingly intimidated by all the crafty women out here in blogland, and blokes too if you're there, haven't seen any yet...but you probably exist...It seems every day I stumble across another amazingly creative being and as inpiring as they are they intimidate me with their abilities....I feel so inferior, so juvenile in my knowledge, which is exciting- knowing there is so much to learn that is.

I showed the quilt I've been working on to my friend who recentlty visited from SA. I had to point out the inadequacies and imperfections. She, I know, is a perfectionist with the needle and can do beautiful embroidery and smocking. My primitive stitches probably made her blood run cold but was too kind to say so, she merely said she wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't pointed it out.

Anyway, I knitted these socks on circular needles and they turned out not quite perfect, but very, very warm. The orders from the family are rolling in...gotta love winter....

One of the best things about moving into our new house (which by the way is anything but new...except in the sense that it's new to us) has been unpacking all our "things" that have been in storage for 5 months. I'd started to think that life would be better without all the "stuff", without all the clutter, but having lived without it all I'm firmly resolved in the belief that we do indeed need our things...they define us, they adorn our homes and each little piece carries a story, a history, a memory....I'd prescribed to the modern thinking of paring life back to the raw basics and getting rid of all the useless bits and pieces that seem to involve so much time and energy to maintain, not to mention the cost of acquiring them in the first place.

Unpacking box after box was like a long drawn out Christmas morning where delightful surprises kept arriving. I'd forgotten about some of the gorgeous fabrcis I'd accumulated, the inspiring books I'd purchased, not to mention the photos and treasured trinkets. Who said there wasn't fun to be had moving? Here's a pic of my collection of glass bottle, my genie bottles that my husband on the surface barely tolerates but I suspect deep down has grown attached to (who couldn't???).

June has seen my baby boy turn THREE. He continually tells me he's a BIG BOY now...I beg to differ. He has grown out of his cot now and is only using this quilt for nap-time now. He calls it his "cowboy blankie". I've almost completed hand quilting his single bed size quilt. My first hand-quilting attempt I'm finding it isn't as slow going as I'd expected, the result is awesome, and it couldn't be a better time of year to sit and patiently and lovingly, stitch by stitch, finish off what has been a marathon project (that story for another day...). Anyway,

happy birthday to you big boy....

LAH-DE-DAH

I LOVE AUTUMN, I just adore the crispness in the air, the lovely freshness all around. Goodbye to summer's hot, humid, heaviness and hello to the promise of days spent cocooning by the fire with a warm mug'o'milo and a board game... I just love Autumn, and I thought I'd put it out there!!!

This is the lovely Lucy romping in the leaves at Mt Lofty. We all miss the Adelaide Hills and the friends we made while we were there....I fell in love with Autumn while in Adelaide, a very pretty place at this time of year.

FUN, Fun, fun...

I must have been having too much fun because time has been flying. Just celebrated 10 years of married life we went to Hobart, Tassie for 4 nights of child free time. Soooo good to be people and not parents for a few days.

Loved the Salamanca markets on Sat morning, brilliant creative locals selling all sorts of delights. Vintage stalls, craftsmen and women with ceramics, clothes, toys,....i could go on, by far the best markets I've been to, and believe me I've done the rounds. If you've been to Sydney's Rocks Markets the Salamanca version is along a similar theme with around 4 times as many stalls.

I rode (and crashed in spectacular stlye) a mountain bike down Mt Wellington, ate gorgeous food day after day and enjoyed the bliss that is the HOTEL ISLINGTON.... massage, private dining, complete luxury...unfortunately I'll have to wait another 10 years to celebrate like that again...

The image below is "The Rose Room", voted Hobart's most romantic room- it gets my vote. We had an amazing evening of fine food and lots of laughter...They set up a little table for two and our personal chef cooked just for us!! Wish I could have fit him in my suitcase and brought him home with me, he puts my cooking to shame. I fell in love with his toasted muesli at breakfast, don't even get me started on dinner...

And onto the craftiness that has occurred of late, knitted teddy bears....there are 2 more being stitched together at the moment as well as clothes and a world of cuteness to match. They're from the lovely Claire Garland's book- Knitted Bears.

ESCAPISM

What could be better than the rain after the heat? Hmmm, let me see, a quiet night sewing, after a stressful week of incessant bickering from otherwise adorable angels.... So I've been sewing to save my sanity, the normailty of sitting at my machine, or handsewing silver sequins on black singlets for my kids. Sometimes I question the hours I spend thinking about fabrics, about colour and patterns, but in moments like this I realise the importance of a passion, an interest, a means of finding normaility in the face of change.

We Angels are living with my mum at the moment, we were supposed to be here for a few weeks and a few months on we're still here. Everyone is out of routine and yet spending time doing what I love is such a source of calmness. The fires in Victoria are so heartbreaking. I lost my dad unexpectedly in October last year, which is why we're living with mum for now, and it's such a comfort to be at his home, where there are reminders of him and memories all around. I was watering his vege patch yesterday and my kids were gathering ripe tomatoes from the bushes he planted, it seemed such a strong image of life going on, of the legacy a parent or grandparent leaves on the next generations. My heart goes out to the people in Vic who've not only loved lost one, but also all the material reminders of that person.

I've made some special library bags for my two big brave angels who've settled in beautifully to their new school- yay. Haven't photographed my latest creations yet, but here's some pic of my babies, who are looking less like babies and more like the big people they really are...

HERe GoEs NOthiNG...or... SOMEThing....WE'll SEE...

Okay, so I'm ALWAYS telling my kids, it doesn't matter how well you do, just as long as you have a go and try your best. So why then do you think I've been lurking in blogland, ogling and admiring others for a year or more now and not stepping forward myself? My 8 year old, Chloe and 7 year old Lucy moved across country 5 weeks ago, leaving the safety of their lovely little idyllic rural school in the Adelaide Hills and started at a new school this week. SCARRRRY!!! They did so well, straight into it, best friends made by the end of day 1. In fact miss Lucy stated she's already received a verbal birthday invite- excited by such rapid progress I asked when her friend's birthday is- only 10 months away.....hmmmm. How simply they view everything, how black and white their world is. Unlike my mind which has been a myriad of what if's for so long now. This year is the time to ACT more: THINK less....And so sees the birth of AMONG ANGELS, so named because our surname is ANGEL and when you visit I hope you'll feel a part of us...so, Here's a quilt I made for a friend in Adelaide, she is having a baby boy soon, to add to her family of 2 young girls, it just had to be blue....it turned out okay i'm thinking, made with left over bits and pieces and no pattern or fuss it was a quick and easy little project- my favourite type.....