November

Well, I don't know where Spring has gone. It's over by the feel of current weather.

We're ploughing through the last few weeks of schooling for the year. I'm ready to quit, but the children are still going strong - what's with that?? It's partly do to with discovering an online maths program that suits them much better - especially eldest chicken has a lot more control over her learning. But it's shown me that she can do an entire year's maths in one term if she puts her mind to it... so the bar might be a little higher for next year, eh? And she's also shown me that a bit of chocolate-type rewarding turns a reluctant science student into one that can get 100% in her tests. Hmmm.... amazing what the right motivation can do!

Apart from that I seem to have been bitten by the sewing bug again. There's been a bit of quilting going on.

And the odd bit of photography.

And campaigning for the release of child asylum seekers from concentration camps. Oopps, I mean detention. The children at church helped with this banner. One of the girls did the gorgeous yellow swirls.

Time flies

Where should I start? We have had the birthday run for the children. Don and I have both been on an Emmaus Walk. There's been prophetic schools, conferences... and lots of peace and quiet in amongst all that too. This last week has mostly consisted of tidying the house, so that I have the space to be creative again.

This is what I made today for a little baby girl that was born recently (I hope her mother isn't peeking at the blog!). It's from the latest Oliver & S book, and I found the bear ears too cute to pass by!

And here's some birthday shots. In order: my eldest girl turned 9, my boy turned 7, and my littlest chicken turned 5!

Little Red Riding Hood

There have been a few capes made around here lately. Good for this wave of cold weather. I picked up this remnant of red velvety material in a remnants bin and it just screamed Little Red Riding Hood at me! So here she is. The girl herself. And what's that in your basket, little girl? A lovely surprise for Granny? Oh, beetles. Of course.

A week of creating

It's been a creative week, this week. Eldest chicken has been hard at work stitching a chicken mascot for littlest chicken. (How many times can you fit the word 'chicken' into a sentence and not get confused...)

She has also been busy creating new desserts for the family to try. This particularly yummy one is called Double Chocolate Apple, and is made with the following directions:

Then the week was make complete with hand-made posies for mummy and daddy. Ahhhhh, sweet love!

Holiday lists

Why, oh why do I make lists of things to do during the holidays? Do I do any of them? Nope - because I need a holiday!!

But I did manage to get a lot of sewing done for the wedding that's coming up soon... (he he - excited, Holly??) And I've almost finished a tie for my boy, which, in my humble opinion, will be the grooviest tie at the wedding! (Eldest chicken reading over my shoulder gently suggests that it will actually be the Groom and groomsmen who will be the grooviest. Ah yes. Ahem. Of course...)

Here's a sneak peak of the soon-to-be-famous and almost-finished tie. No orders taken, because I neglected to think about the fact that it is completely hand sewn! (See previous posts if you don't know my feelings on hand sewing...)

A bit of lace

I inherited some rolls of lace recently, and have had some fun today making a bag with it. I think there'll be some more of these made soon...

Rain and a spot of sewing

I have barely touched my sewing machine lately, except to patch the knees of jeans (a never ending job...). But the last few days it has been raining, and I've been finishing off some projects that have been sitting around for a while.

These fine, fat-bottomed ladies are ready for the markets.

Experimenting with new bag shapes...

A coin purse pattern I found hanging around... which is now a great little bag for storing all the hair clips that are scattered in the bathroom drawers.

I this one is my favourite. The photo doesn't do much for it, but it's a gorgeous shimmery fabric, and it looks really yummy with the blue floral lining.

And a matching purse

What dress is complete without a matching purse?

Pattern from Skip To My Lou.

A new dress

Checklist for new dress:

• can be worn over jeans;
• has no traces of pink or purple;
• is pretty much the most fiddly and hard-to-read dress pattern ever so mother keeps up her sewing skills;
• can be worn while running around the yard and finding interesting bits of grass and rocks;
• has pockets to store the above mentioned items.

Check. Now to find some strawberry-type buttons to finish off the dress.... (and quickly throw out the pattern before I'm tempted to attempt it again...)

Handmade gifts

I didn't make much for Christmas this year. I gave each of the nieces and nephews a vintage tin with seeds to grow, a notepad with their name on it (we had fun with silicone for those), and some little chocolates. For the two littlest ones I made 'emotional' bean bags. Brothers and sisters received hand-stamped candles (forgot to take a photo), and parents received their goodies in a hand-made Christmas bag.

I can heartily recommend co-operative games. We bought the children each one for Christmas and it's so lovely to play with each other, rather than against each other! We also bought them cheap-cheap-cheap little mp3 players on eBay, which entertained them marvellously during all the holiday travelling.

My sister gave us this sign for the gate - very funny (and appropriate)! And I have a nice little pile of books I plan to keep my nose in today... (wish me luck!)

Gardening in style!

Happy Birthday, Jane Ann. Hope you enjoy gardening in your new apron! xx

A tidy study!

I tidied up the study today, so now I'm free to get creative again. I forced myself to stitch another row on littlest chicken's quilt (sigh),

finished off a bag for a friend,


and experimented with some complementary materials. I'm thinking the platypus might be a bit too subtle on this one... Hmmm. What do you think?

A good read

I have been avoiding my sewing machine a bit lately. Littlest chicken's quilt is still hanging over me... but I'm not overly inspired to sew any more of it at the moment. I did make a bag, however, which was a bit of fun.

Mostly around here it's been reading, reading, reading. My own reading has been along the lines of Jack Deere, Bill Johnson, Mark Virkler. Very inspiring. Oldest chicken has been lured away from Famous Five periodically to read something else - Misty of Chincoteauge by Marguerite Henry was declared to be just as good as Famous Five - high praise!! I'm amazed by how often she re-reads books. She has gone for her second round of The Secret Garden, and various Patricia St John books lately. I personally like to leave a few years gap between re-readings, but maybe it's a childhood thing to do something over and over again? Chicken no. 2 is enjoying reading his 3 letter words from Hop on Pop, and littlest chicken likes to point at numbers excitedly and give them some random value (eg point to a 6 and say "it's a 2, mummy, it's a 2!").

The smell of fresh bread

My brain is full of rosters and schedules at the moment. Any more and it might explode. I do enjoy a spot of organising, though. Okay, okay, so if there was Organisers Anonymous I would have to join it...

So as a distraction I tried making some Turkish bread this afternoon. It just came out of the oven a few minutes ago - yum!

And I am determined to finish littlest chicken's quilt before her birthday - I've hit the halfway mark now...

Just the usual

Not a whole lot happening here at the moment. Just the usual plus a bit more bike riding (I didn't realise how hard it would be to go up hill with a toddler in a seat on the back!). A few extra trees and veggies planted. A bit of sewing, mostly hemming, apart from this exciting little article:

Any guesses?

7 years fly by

My big girl turned 7 today! It's hard to believe those years could go so quickly.



I made her an 'explorers bag' and filled it with all those items necessary for exploring - binoculars, butterfly net, compass, magnifying glass and plenty of collection jars! We'll be sure to pop in her sketch book and pencil too, next time we go for a nature walk.

Happy Birthday, my beautiful girl.

Five on the wall

We had a lovely weekend - lots of sunny weather and good company at church camp.

Chicken no.1 has been requesting contact pictures for her wall, so what do you think I made for the big Famous Five fan? This is my second attempt, as the first was using cheap contact, and it wouldn't even stick properly on the wall. So, if you're planning to do your own wall stickers, use tough and good quality contact!

And the sewing machine had a short workout for a purse, which would be so quick and easy if it wasn't for the gluing - there was a lot of tongue holding for that one, let me tell you!

Explorers bag

I used my time-out this weekend to whip-up a bag for my nephew's birthday. It's a pretty cool design (choose your own adventure bag), with lots of extra pockets - even on the straps, so hopefully it will make a good explorers bag for a growing boy.

Happy birthday & a confession

Happy Birthday to me, that is! ;)

I made myself a birthday bag, to try and kick-start my sewing for the year. I used the monk's bag pattern, which is very comfortable.

Oh yes, the confession. Well I did have a day planned out for a domestic catch-up frenzy, and in my defence, I did get some washing out (and packed away - extra points!). But then I made the mistake of picking up The Book Thief and I just couldn't put it down! This is why I don't read a lot of books (apart from children's) these days - once I start the rest of the world just fades away...

Quilting love

I am going places with this little baby! Quilting places, that is. I bought myself this walking foot today, and boy am I pleased! I like it even more than my buttonhole foot and my curve master foot! So you might not hear from me for a while - I'll be too busy quilting!

Mmmmm.... is that apple pie I smell? See ya!