Quilt Time

I've made dozens of quilts, but I've given most of them away as gifts. My own girls sleep under cheap store bought threads and I've finally found the time and inclination to make them one each. This is the first (albeit poorly photographed)...and it's for Lucy who is 8. The fabric is by Moda- Snippets, and it isn't too juvenile, nor too mature...it's fun and fresh and I've pieced it in a bit of an ecclectic and interesting pattern...very much like Lucy's personality!!!

Christmas Angels....

HALLELUJAH!!! and the angels rejoice, one photo sucessfully uploaded after 3 months of fidgeting with my settings. Seems there's much to in the cyber-world for me to learn.

Anyway, this is a cheeky little elf-angel under our tree before it was stacked with presents!!!

Somebody stop me...another one!!!! hahaha... I was getting really frustrated with the picture situation and my meddling seems to have come good all of a sudden..ahhh technology!!!

So the pic above is of the beautiful "Nice" biscuit gingerbread house that Chloe made us for Christmas. She was fortunate to have a very crafty teacher for the last few weeks of school and the children took great delight in creating these for their families to enjoy. I am disappointed that the importance of creativity and the value of artistic expression gets pushed aside in favour of more academic achievements. I think they have 20 years of serious learning ahead, they could at least do some craft before they hit double figures.

I remember in primary school we had a little old lady (she was probably 40!!!hehehe- everything's relative-right?) who would come into our classroom one afternoon a week and teach us a new craft/art technique. We learnt stitches on a hessian bag, made a cane bread basket, a caterpillar wall hanging from clay, a silhouette cameo in lead pencil, a scoubidou key ring, string art and marbling paper....I obviously paid attention in art lesson.They are a poignant reminder of my childhood- the pride I took in those lovingly crafted bits and pieces seems to represent phases of my life. My mum used the cane bread basket for years even though it was lopsided and a little unstable. My husband's mum still has a clay paperweight of a punk head (he'll kill me for divulging that), and if I could have I would have kept that biscuit gingerbread house foever too- the smile it brought to her face will have to be enough....

Sweet SUMMER

What a brilliant Summer we've had. It's been unbearably hot, there's been days that we've laid blankets out in the backyard in the shade of our bank of gum trees and hoped for a breeze to save us. Our air-con died just after winter and with our reno looming we decided to suffer through summer in the promise of a ducted system in the near future. What a mistake that was....a hot angel is a cranky angel!!! Fortunately the beach is 2 mins drive and we have lots of friends with air-com who've come to expect us to drop-in on hot days, in fact it's become a case of friends saying, "We'll come to your place for the day, unless it's hot, in which case you can come to us!!" It's summer in Australia, of course it's hot, so we've been out alot...
It's been so hot here in the house that Rod has dubbed my sewing room "the Sweat Shop". It really hasn't been an environment conducive to creativity- but I have managed to stockpile on-line purchases of fabric that are ready and waiting to be turned into specialties. There's been a few op-shop scores and plenty of time to laze about poring over books, patterns and mags- like I said, a BRILLIANT SUMMER!!!

ARGHHH NOT a happy blogger, still can't pload photo's!!! HELLLLPPP!!!

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!!!