Start making...

Each week Meg has a dance class not far from a local thrift shop...so what is one to do while waiting for her to finish dancing?
Well that is fine because I usually have a bag of things to gift them but then I often find somethings to gift myself with....so I decided this week as I left with a few small finds that I would set to work and be more diligent than I have been in the last few weeks and find the purposes for which I have been bringing home these fantastic finds.

Last night I managed to pull together

• A market bag from a vintage tea towel ( being from my Nan)
• Two pot holders from a table runner
• A pincushion
  

I just needed to set my mind into gear (I have let it slip out over the summer break) and work away at my piles of fantastic finds.
Check out over here to see if there is anything you like and then drop me a line.

The Pink Variety

I am now ready for whichever variety arrives in Tassie!
My baby sister is awaiting ever so patiently for the arrival of baby number 4. I am ahead of myself for once and have now finished the pink quilt to go in waiting with the blue one.
Not being a true quilter I am pleased with this one from the fact that I managed to put it together using all thrifted or pre-loved fabrics (some from my kids) and even a pre- shrunk thrifted woollen blanket inner.
I know my darling little sister will really appreciate this ...only I hope she is too busy with other things to read this post and spoil my gift. ( which I can hand deliver in just 18 days.... YaY)

I used this tutorial for the quilt construction.

This week at Playgroup

Continuing on our summer theme...(which by the way is a good thing seeing we copped another day well over 40 C) we read a story about boats and then had some fun constructing one.
Simple materials...a couple of scourer sponges, a straw ,a dishcloth sponge, some glue and some glitter glue for colour.
One of our playgroup dads made the great suggestion that it was a great idea - a toy that also cleaned the bath....only a stay at home dad would think that!!!

We required child friendly PVA glue for this activity but for most paper related gluing you just need a paste. I found a great recipe today for making your own...check out this.
Thanks Logan for being a willing model and great boat maker!

No Eectricity

Baby Soon?

We have a baby on the way ....
I spoke with my youngest sister tonight who lives in Tasmania and she is very close to having baby number 4!!!!!
This is causing me great excitement as a new baby in the family always does. It means that in three weeks I will be heading over to spend some time with her as well BUT.....
I have this pile of material to firstly assemble into a quilt just in case this new addition is of the pink variety. We don't know which variety it will be but I already have the blue kind covered.

So Far...

The Granny Square count so far.....


81

From that to this....

You might remember me showing you these earlier in the week.....
Well I did reacquaint with my sewing machine and I now have this....

I have not mastered the art of photgraphing while wearing the subject but I think you get the gist.

Weekend

Happy Weekending To You......

Liquid Gold

Thanks Bees....Sweet Sweet Honey for our bread..

Rainbow Fish

Week Two of Playgroup done for the term...
the great thing about planning the sessions and activities is that I get to do and read some of my personal favourites.
So today we read the Rainbow Fish story and then they set about to make their own fish with colourful tails.
This is something that is so simple to do at a moments notice with scraps you have around the house.

Thrifting

I love poking around a secondhand/thrift store but it is even better when dear friends say to you..." Hey I'm having a clean out would you like some stuff?"
Too easy ..now I just need to get on and reacquaint myself with my sewing machine.

Squatters Evicted

We have had some very busy squatters take up residence in the kid's cubby house...the day came to evict them!

I just wish we had some landlord insurance cover to clean up after the squatters!

A kind friend now has some new tenants on his property and will return in a few days with a little sweet,sweet honey for our toast!

11th Birthday Fun

Wow she had fun but boy were we all exhausted on this Monday morning!

Loveliness

Happy Valentines Day to you. xxxxxx

11 Today

She is one of our precious babies....

She is a little sister....

She is a big sister....

She is a good,loving, funny, responsible,cheeky daughter.

Happy Birthday Meg...we love you heaps.

Full On

Part of my working week consists of running two playgroups . We -the church run these two groups for community mums and we are in a very big growing area so consequently we have two very large groups with a wait list.
I love this part of my job, meeting other mums and coming up with fun activities to do.
This week the groups started up....37 families on Tues and 28 families on Thurs!!!
It can be a little overwhelming but with some great people on my team and lovely families who appreciate all you do, I look forward to it each week.

Yesterday we kicked off with the summer theme and read a book about building sandcastles and then they all set about to create their own sandcastle picture.

Flying Time

The last week and a half have been ruled by the clock...well that is the way it has felt in my world.
Being back at school alone will do it too you but added to that Fraser has been attending half days alternating between mornings and afternoons!
Do I know if I am coming or going?
Do I know where I should be and what I should have with me?
Do I feel that I have been ahead of myself?
What I do know is that we all crave the rhythm of routine and boundaries , ones that are familiar and predictable. We may not always enjoy what is required of us right in that moment but we know what will happen next and when it is most likely to happen.
We have also broken the rule of no sleep overs during the week...but that is what families are for and so we have enjoyed the out of routine visits from the cousins...

(Fraser not wanting to miss out even though he was supposed to be asleep)

Birthday Preparations

We have a birthday happening this weekend....I say weekend rather than one day because it is being celebrated over three days!
How does this happen - oh well...we have begun making some decorations to hang for the parties!!!!

Found this Tissue paper pompom pattern over here....Meg and I set to work tonight to make a few. They were fairly easy and hopefully will look really pretty.

Crochet -a - long

I am a bit of a sucker for a challenge and so when this very creative lady put out one to join her in knitting or crocheting washcloths I though it would be fun.
Seeing as I am already crocheting granny squares I decided to change what's on the needles and have a go at some .
I have very limited crochet skills so have just have gone with what I know and was able to complete my first. They will make such lovely gifts teemed with some local soaps.
I am keen to stretch myself and see if I can follow some of the other great patterns out there...but for now these simple ones are enjoyable enough.

Clouds

" Mum do you see that greedy cloud up there?"
"What's a greedy cloud Fraser?"
"You know the very dark cloud up there."

Happy Weekending

Happy Weekending to you!

All I need to know

ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN

All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sand pile at school.

These are the things I learned:

• Share everything.
• Play fair.
• Don't hit people.
• Put things back where you found them.
• Clean up your own mess.
• Don't take things that aren't yours.
• Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
• Wash your hands before you eat.
• Flush.
• Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
• Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
• Take a nap every afternoon.
• When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.
• Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: the roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
• Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we.
• And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned - the biggest word of all - LOOK.

Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and equality and sane living.

Take any one of those items and extrapolate it into sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your family life or your work or government or your world and it holds true and clear and firm. Think what a better world it would be if we all - the whole world - had cookies and milk at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap. Or if all governments had as a basic policy to always put things back where they found them and to clean up their own mess.

And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out in the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.

[Source: "ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN" by Robert Fulghum. See his web site at http://www.robertfulghum.com/ ]

Popping Rocks...

I found these at the supermarket while shopping the other day.I don't normally buy "gimmicky" things but this caught my eye and appealed to my childhood days. I put it on top of the ice cream tonight to see if it would live up to the memories.
It brought a smile and giggle to all of us as it popped and crackled in our mouths.
For Derek and I remembering it as kids and for the kids having it for the first time..

Go ahead and see if you can find some and have a giggle to!

Nobody Home

What to do now that no-one is home....
I have found myself this week taking on board some new feelings. We walk the two minutes to school with all the other kids in the street and everyone is loving this...but...then I get to walk the two minutes home all alone and I am not loving this!
I know, in a few weeks I will be Ok but right now I am having eyes that are filled with tears as I walk away leaving both the kids behind. I know this is a bit over the top but the time has come where a great portion of their day now doesn't involve me.. obviously this has been the case with Meg for some 7 years but Fraser????
I have to learn a new way of being in some strange way.
Work will fill three of my days and I know I will relish the couple of days to fill of my choice but I still have this tug-o-war thing happening that comes with sending the last born off to full time school and also having to give my eldest a little more breathing room than before.( apparently it is not that cool for mum to wait at the classroom in the mornings and make any fuss!)

Interesting days ahead in the next little while as I navigate this new territory called being a mum of school aged children.

Granny Square Count

Just thought I would share my Granny Square progress...
I think Derek is secretly enjoying the quietness of this night time pursuit of mine as opposed to the sewing machine variety!
Not sure how long it will take me to have enough to make something but a granny a day will get me somewhere!