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....