Posts from — July 2008

When I was a kid we used to stay at an Uncle’s holiday house every year after Christmas. After my mum had single handedly prepared Christmas lunch for up to 15 people she would then clean it all up and prepare to leave the very next day for two weeks holiday. It always made me angry that she would be stressed out trying to clean up the house before we left. It was a holiday after all – we should just walk out of the house and enjoy ourselves.

Now that I’m getting ready to leave for Europe in just three weeks time what am I doing to get ready? Getting through jobs that have been waiting to be done for the last 6 to 12 months of course. As an adult I now understand that coming back from a holiday always involves mixed emotions. Sometimes I’m relieved to be home – sometimes I’m not. But coming home to a house that is a shambles is never a good feeling. And whilst I have coped with walking past the painting that is hung 20cm too far to the right for the last 10 months, I couldn’t cope with the idea of walking in the front door in 5 months time and seeing that painting still there. So today I moved it. It took 5 minutes of course. Holidays are a great motivation for getting things done. Now to book that accommodation…

These beautiful buttons arrived in the mail last week from craft pudding:

When I bought them I had no idea what I would use them for – I just knew I had to have them. Then I found this pattern in the book I bought from the wool shop on the weekend and I figure they have a home already….well they will have as soon as I zip through the jumper I bought the wool for, duck into a wool shop somewhere in Europe and whip this new one up. It’s cute huh?

You can get buttons and the cutest little stamps from the craft pudding Esty store – but be super quick as the shop will be closed for the month of August. That’s ok – as long as it is open in January when I return for more buttons

As I feel as though I have mentioned every time I post – life is fairly hectic around here right now. In between home schooling and getting ready to leave home for the next five months, the days are literally flying by and I just can’t seem to squeeze enough in. Yesterday morning I did a bunch of horrid jobs (including cleaning the oven) and then managed to sneak off to the local wool shop to do some research into some crafting that doesn’t take up quite as much room as a sewing machine. I haven’t been to that wool shop for about 5 years – and I spent a blissful hour alone there perusing the gorgeous patterns and yarns.

I thought I was looking for a cute beanie to knit, but it was this pattern that caught my eye:

I’m hoping that I can knit whilst hubbie drives, and I will be able to whip up a cardigan for Miss Zoe in no time. Of course knitting and driving might just make me want to vomit, and by the end of a day of campervaning in Europe I might be too tired to hold up the needles. So I will definitely need alternate projects to take with me. But I figured this was a good start.

What a lot of exciting changes have been happening in our lives recently. Just six weeks ago things were humming along as usual, with the exception of a whole lot of sewing that was being squeazed into any available space in the day. Then we made the difficult decision to change our six year old’s school. When we made this decision we had no idea how it would affect our lives and lead to us embarking on an exciting adventure together.

We thought that moving between government schools would be a formality, but we were so wrong. After weeks of stress and uncertainty the word came through on the second last day of the holidays that a space at the new school would not be available until 2009. We had just two days to decide what to do – send our son back to his old school, or perhaps homeschool him until the end of the year. We really weren’t thrilled about either of those options, and so in front of our fireplace we brainstormed any other ideas we could think of. This one was mine…

I tried to replace the idea in the morning with a proposed road trip around Australia, but it was too late – the seed had been planted in hubbies mind, and he wanted to run with it. Now who am I to argue with a man who wants to travel around Europe until school starts next February? That would be crazier than the idea itself. And just to add some excitement we’ve decided to leave in less than four weeks time. We want to catch the summer while we can, hence the haste, plus of course we want to soak in as much of the continent as possible.

There is LOTS to do to get ready and things are hectic to say the least. There really isn’t any time for sewing, so for the time being this is going to become a bit of a travel blog. I am on the lookout for some good crafting that is small and easy to do in a campervan (knitting seems the obvious choice) so I hope to have something to show as I travel around.

I will come back and fill in details like where we are going and what we’ll be doing as I find small pockets of free time during the day. Wish me luck!!!

…I have this gorgeous print by Shannon Lamden from Auntie Cookie.

I didn’t buy the print to put on my fridge, but with everything that’s been going on the fridge seemed to provide a good temporary home. And who wouldn’t love staring at that cosy couple every time I reach for my milk? I get a moment of joy every single time I look at it, which is a lovely contrast from the moment of panic I get every time I look at the white board I have set up on the other side of the fridge with jobs that need to be done before we leave for Europe. Maybe I should take the print with me to put up in the campervan? Hmm, maybe I should take two. At any rate I will be dreaming of what creations I can make from Auntie Cookie fabric when I return. Check out her Etsy store for more gorgeous goods.

I have had little parcels arrive in my letter box nearly every day this week -mostly Japanese fabric I’ve bought from Etsy. I have excitedly opened each package, turned the fabric over in my hands, visualised what I might make with it, photographed it and then left it somewhere where I could see it as I went about my daily jobs. Yesterday however I had to face the fact that I am not going to be able to sew anything out of this fabric until January next year, and I have packed most of it away. It’s not a bad compromise -no more sewing in exchange for five months in Europe – but it was a little sad just the same.

Here are the kids holding up their favourite pieces during ‘lunchtime’ at homeschool.

Why should the girls have all the fun? Tina from Purple Happy Tree asked if I would make a bag for her son’s 4th birthday and I had a heap of fun choosing some fabric that wasn’t pink for a change. I also made a bag for my Hamish with the same robot fabric.

This one was for Hamish:

And this one for Hunter:

I also made them both a matching pencil roll:

Here is Hunter showing off his goodies. What a cutie!

I was so thrilled with the little bag I made for Zoe’s friend for her birthday I sewed up a few more for Zoe and her cousins.

Have a look at the fancy stitching I did on the strap of this one! I have to thank my little man for encouraging me to try the decorative stitches on my new sewing machine.

Here are the girls modelling their bags:

Zoe has used her bag a couple of times since I made it -once when we went out to dinner, and once at a concert in the city. Both times she has packed it up with goodies to keep her amused which is just what I intended it to be used for. As an aside -check out how well it matches her PMP Pants!

Zoe has grown!  I know that doesn’t sound too remarkable to most people, but my kids grow so slowly they often get two seasons out of their clothing.  Not the Pink PMP Pants though!  I found this Ginger Blossom cord on Etsy and tried to sew her the prettiest, softest, baggiest, girliest pants I could (to avoid the pants rage we face experience each Tuesday morning).   The kinder teachers all made a suitable amount of fuss and she seems quite happy with them (after calling them ‘poo-poo pants’ all week).  I very loosely used her old pants as a pattern (which were cut from an older pair of pants) and they’re way too baggy around the hips.  I might take the waist band off and sew in the sides, but since we’re hoping to go away soon it might not be worth it.  I find it hard to leave sewing creations that aren’t quite right though.  Funny, because in most parts of my life I’m very relaxed about ‘not quite right’.

Zoe and her cousins each got a pair of new pyjamas and so did their dollies!

By the time I’d sewn three kid’s sets and three doll’s sets I was pretty keen to put the flanelette away until next winter. But wasn’t really fair on my little man who also needed another new pair. He loves sewing on my machine (I have a start/stop button on the machine so he can sit on my lap and sew) so I figured it was time for him to learn how to make his own pair. Here he is cutting out the pattern and the fabric….and now he’s doing what all good sewers do which is let the half finished project sit for a while before finishing it

As of today he’s being home schooled so I will get him to finish them during home economics class!