The joy of pedalling

Chicken no.3 has discovered how to pedal her bike, so she has been outside pretty much all day!

Chasing after her brother on his bike. The lot of the 3rd one, eh? Always chasing after the others...

And chicken no.1 has been very busy making a book for her bear. She writes a lot of books, but I thought I would share this one with you. I just loooove her spelling! I'll translate (her words, my spelling).

Raby (pron. Ray-bee) the Rabbit

Raby was only little when his mother died. 'When will I grow up?' He asked.

When you turn 19. When will that be? Lookout! Look - raining sunglasses!

Help! Yikes!

Phew said his father.

Now am I grown up? Yes.

I've just been outside again, and I can hear the zebra finches trilling their little songs to each other - gorgeous!

Sights of the day

As I type, we are being serenaded by a cricket that has made it's way inside. Lovely music, but it has found itself a spot where it will be impossible to get it out! Oh well, hopefully it will make itself useful and eat some house spiders or similar. I wonder if they eat wolf spiders? The Willie Wagtail's eat the redback spiders under the eaves of the house - God bless them!

It has been a lovely spring day again today. The children have rediscovered the sandpit. Not much sand left, and a few dead redback spiders, but they aren't worried about that!

Chicken no.3 has discovered underpants in her cupboard and is now refusing to wear her nappies! I really don't think she's ready for toilet training, so it's going to be an interesting week.... with lots of washing!!

I've started my first quilt! Very exciting. Tune in next year and see if I've finished it....!


And chickie no.1 decided to do her own quilt as well...

Wall art and eaten books

I have been drooling over the lovely wall art found at Wallallure. Lovely stuff, but here's me thinking 'yeah, I can do that with a bit of coloured contact!' The contact I have seems to be alright on the walls - in fact it's more likely to fall off than take the paint with it (and that's saying something, considering the thin paint on our walls!) So here's the finished product, which I plan to expand across chicken no.3's walls. (Of course, if you want the real thing which is much prettier and definitely won't damage your walls, best stick with the store above!).

So, by way of thanking me for my work, chicken no.3 ate some flaps from a book..... *sigh*. No, really, her face did light up when she saw the art and all that, which did make my heart very warm, but what is it with the cardboard?????

The scent of Spring

It's a glorious day outside today. I couldn't resist taking some snaps of the spring growth (while trying to ignore the bindi's and thistles spreading across the acre...)

Can you smell the fresh apple cake? Want to come for morning tea??

Lazy days with friends

The last few days have been filled with friends - new and old. It's been delightful! Not much sewing to report, because I've been frantically trying to catch up on housework and clean the toilets before visitors arrive!!

The rain has been pouring down for the last 24 hours - it's just beautiful. Hope the veggies and trees are soaking it all in. And this should fill the tank and help see the plants through summer. I'm very excited that the seeds I saved from tomatoes and pumpkins are now sprouting! I might develop a green thumb after all!

And before the rain started falling Don finished his current major project. Ta da! Ah, this is such a nice shot - green grass, new swings, and conveniently cuts off the work clothes of Don's that I've left dripping wet on the line for the last 2 days....

Cardboard delight

Why is it that my 2 year old feels the need to eat cardboard???

Hedgehogs, llamas and other things

We had a great time at a nearby lavender farm on Friday. They had llamas, ostriches, donkeys, a Shetland pony and a camel. The kids had a marvelous time racing the ostrich up and down the fence, and she amused us by performing her mating dance!!!

I did some applique on some t-shirts on the weekend. Don't think applique is my thing - it drove me batty, and I have 2 more children's shirts promised... Anyway, these ones turned out ok - the crab is pretty cute I think.

And for my time-out today I made a Molly Chicken Hedgehog (except mine has loops, and should perhaps be called an echidna seeing it was made Down Under?). Very cute, and hijacked by littlest chicken already... She's very hard to resist when her little face lights up!

Signs of Spring

Spring has sprung!



Don't you wish you were 2 again and could just play in the dirt all day?

And a new hat. I quite like this pattern (McCalls 8191) because it has a piece of elastic in the back. So it suits ages 1 to adult, depending on the size of elastic you put in.

Wings and things

I had one of those profound moments the other day, while I was potting my tomato seeds. A pair of really large black birds flew close overhead - I could see their feathers, and hear every rush of their wings. It was amazing. It made me think of Don Piper's book '90 minutes in heaven', where he is near the gates of heaven and can hear the constant rushing of angels wings. What an incredible sound that must be!

On a different note, here are some more aprons, modeled by some lovely lasses practicing for modelling school!! The more complicated one did finally make it out of the naughty-corner to be finished, but never again I say!

We had a family get together on Sunday to celebrate Father's Day and one of my sister's birthdays (Happy Birthday!!). The girls had a marvelous time setting up the exclusive Jeax Drive-through Cafe (Mongolian food, evidently!). With tasty dishes such as 'Fern Flurry', 'Moss Mash', and 'Jungle Jolly'. One of the boys, not to be outdone, set up his own restaurant selling 'Fleur-de-lis Fodder'. I still have a giggle, just thinking about it! I suspect my oldest sister had some influence on the naming of the latter dish - when I was little she decided she would help me rename my teddy bears. No longer were they called 'Pinkie', 'Softie', or 'Cuddles', but 'Septimus', 'Cassandra', and 'Roberto'.

Ways to waste time on a Thursday

The Wordle. Not that I have many words on my blog yet, but these are the most prominent:

I tried making my own version of Lotta Jansdotter's apron recently. It worked out alright I think. I'm saving it incase the one I'm trying to make for my sister for her birthday doesn't work out - it's incredibly complicated, and I've threatened to throw it in the bin several times now! I also tried a material shopping bag, based on the plastic bag shape (I got the idea from craftster.org). It's cute, but whether it's worth the hassle of making it, when you can pick up a 'green' bag from the supermarket for $1 is another question. I made 3, of course, because I couldn't help myself! They do look cute, are very sturdy and easy to fold up. You could keep one in your handbag if you had a large handbag.

And some other aprons I've made recently (Happy Birthday, Jane Ann!!). Sorry one of them is sideways - the blog editor keeps turning it around and there's nothing I can do about it.




And finally, an excerpt from a funny email titled "the truth about motherhood..." about the difference in attitude you have with each subsequent child. (I'm happy to forward to email to anyone who wants it). I thought of this the other morning when I had locked myself in the bathroom so I could eat my breakfast in peace!

--------------
At Home: 1st baby: You spend a good bit of every day just gazing at the baby.
2nd baby: You spend a bit of everyday watching to be sure your older child isn't squeezing, poking, or hitting the baby.
3rd baby: You spend a little bit of every day hiding from the children
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Procrastination day

Today there are still large piles of washing waiting to be sorted, washing up to do, clothes to be washed, phone calls to be made.... But I've had fun instead! Some days you've just gotta let things go. That's my theory anyway, and I'm sticking to it! So I've cut out lots of bags, and finished the crown for the oldest chickie. Those felt crowns are really quite simple and fun to make.

Of mice and men

Bit of a feral week last week, with things going on outside the family causing stress. But... not my story to tell, so 'nuff said. The weekend was nice, though - we had a combination of nice sunny weather for outdoor projects on Saturday, then lots of wonderful rain on Sunday.

I keep raving about my sewing, but you should see some of Don's projects. They are on a considerably larger scale! Can you guess what he's making with those large wooden posts? The other project, being the shed, hit it's critical usable point and has slowed down... to... well... a grinding halt, really! I think he just has to add the down pipes (and another frame for some more climbing roses...).

I used my mummy's-time-to-herself on the weekend to make some more handbags. Here are two of them. I forgot to take a photo of the one I sold already. Oh well. Just have to press these one's and they'll be ready to go.

And after over a month of chicken no.1 camping out in her brother's room we have finally been able to move her back into her own room! Unfortunately it was nothing exciting, like redecorating the room, but waiting for the smell of dead mouse to die away (it died in her wall). For such a tiny thing those mice do smell for a looooooong time.