How could I not repost this....

....especially given my babushka obsession!

Originally seen on the Craftzine blog.

Returning... slowly but surely.

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I've spent the last week in Tasmania with my family as my stepfather, Trevor, passed away suddenly last week.  This would have to be the worst thing about living so far away from everyone.  The travel and the distance, all the while holding your breath until you are with the one's you need to be.  We made the decision that I would go alone, leaving my husband with the small people for the entire week, something we have never done before.  They just do not understand the finality of death and I dont think it would have been fair for them to witness their mother or their grandmother in so much grief. 

I just want to say thanks to everyone for the support over the last week.  And a very big thank you to my lovely husband who managed the smalls, their schedules and the house with nary a problem!  A special mention must go to the fact that everything was cleaner and tidier than when I left!!!  I'm thinking we should swap roles and he can become a house husband and I'll go back to teaching!

A wee bloggy break

I will be having a wee break from blogland this week as a close family member has passed away.

See you all later in the week.

x

This week I'm grateful for...

• autumn colours on the trees outside my kitchen window
• new playgrounds with skateparks suitable for small people
• big bike helmets on little heads
• lovely blog commentors
• babies that fall asleep on shoulders at school pick up
• broccolini
• fresh magazines
• the crafty section of the library
• my mum's homemade quince jelly
• the ability of Foxtel to tape my favourite shows so I can watch them all on Friday nights when everyone else goes to bed
• sneaky Mills and Boon reading in the car
• chunky crochet hooks and lovely soft wool
• double pineapple freddo frogs from the fundraising box
• wine (!!!)
• the ability I now have of making things as gifts instead of buying things
• discovering the last mini magnum in the freezer

What are you feeling grateful for this week?

Why I love blogs!

Because you see images like this:

(image from Meet me at Mikes - thanks Pip!)

and get all inspired to make your own!

You come across others with the same idea:

(image from One Red Fox)

Then, because you really don't know what you are doing, lovely people blog FREE tutorials so you can teach yourself!

(image from You Go Girl!)



Apparently when wanting to crochet into fabric it's all about the blanket stitch around the edge first which gives you the foundation to crochet into!

Can you see where I am going with this??!!  I feel a big, new project on the cards!



My creative space...

....actually looks like this on a daily basis.  We are lucky (!!!) enough to have a front lounge and dining room that does not get a lot of use to for the time being I am free to turn it into this mess!  My poor husband has heart seizures every time he walks in here - especially when he spys those red Spotlight bags full of contraband!

I figured you might need a wee close-up of this little man, heading to a birthday boy this Saturday.  How cute is he?  I think I love the boys just as much as I love the girls! 

And I couldn't leave without including some kind of crochet!  This is a really lovely steel blue wool and a nice chunky 7mm hook.  I am trying out the chunky scarf pattern shared by The Royal Sisters the other day.  I think I praps need chunkier wool but I shall persist and see how she turns out.

Other creative spaces are over this way!

Wordless Wednesday

Um, yes... that is me... on kinder duty.... wrapped in loo paper. The things we do for small people!!!

Join in with other Wordless Wednesdays

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Cushion Swap Ta-da!

I am soooo nervous about this, ridiculously so.  I have been looking at the other beautiful cushions criss-crossing the country and wondering whether this is really up to scratch.  Particularly since I only realised at the joining up stage that I was crocheting the cushion into the cover!  Oops.  Oh well, now my recipient will be recieving not just the cover but the cushion inside - bonus!

This is the cushion front - nine lovely granny squares.

And the cushion back - one large granny square.

I guess you could use either side, depending on your fancy.

Hope my mystery reciever likes it (insert nervous giggle!)

Visit other lovely cushions over with Punky & Me.

This week I'm grateful for.... Lego... & scones.

I'm a little late to being grateful this week.  With blogger down, in-laws visiting for a couple of nights, a toothache that's been hanging round for over a week and general life busy-ness, I have hardly had time to get near the computer! 

Today, we had an inside day, foisted upon us by icky Melbourne weather and me in dire need of a trackpant day.  So this week I am grateful to whom ever invented Lego!  Oscar is old enough now to be able to follow the maps himself and was entertained for most of the day putting together a log cabin and then adding to his 'town'.  He must have been feeling particularly generous as well because he let his 4 year old brother join in for most of it!

And feeling grateful for scones, well who wouldn't.  Jam (today my mum's homemade quince jelly!!!), cream, warm scone-y goodness and a cup of tea.  Do you think I could eat these on a daily basis and not end up at 300kg?  I follow the scone recipe of 3 cups of SR flour, 1 cup of lemonade and 1 cup of cream.  Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

Other grateful people visit with Maxabella every week.



My creative space... a car cosy.

I'm so into making things for gifts these days.  I'm not even sure it's the actual item I end up with, but rather the process of making it that I actually love!  We know a little boy who is turning 2 next week, so apart from making him a Superhero softie from the Red Thread, I decided he needed a fabric roll to put all his little cars, trains or Yo Gabba Gabba figurines we see him clutching in his wee fists when he is out and about with his mum.

After some googling I found some lovely links with loads of tutorials to follow.

http://mygratitudeattitudes.blogspot.com/2009/09/car-cozie-tutorial-and-etsy-re.html

http://punkinpattern.blogspot.com/2010/07/car-roll-and-mat-with-riley-blake.html

http://homemadebyjill.blogspot.com/2009/12/cozy-car-caddy-tutorial.html


http://kojodesigns.blogspot.com/2010/03/kojotutorial-favorite-things-caddy.html

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xhsqrn_how-to-make-a-toy-car-roll_school*

I then adapted some of the things learnt from each of these and drew up my own plan.

Doesn't that look nice and easy to follow!  Apart from my cheat sheet I did keep going back and forward on my laptop to all those links just to make sure I was heading in the right direction. (I found the best one was the one I've asterixed - it's a video instruction.)

Ta da!  One finished fabric car roll!

With a daggy little felt road just for some added decoration.

Oh, and the sneaky glimpse of crochet - the back of my granny cushion - almost finished for the cushion swap!

Other creative spaces can now be found right here.

Classic Sesame Street

Point and Shoot: Mother's Day Weekend

We have had a very busy, full house this weekend with both my sisters and my mum flying in for a quick visit and a Mother's Day treat. After arriving on Friday morning we had a jaunt into the city we're I paid $51 for approximately 5 minutes of parking! We did have some yummy cupcakes in Degraves Lane and found the most adorable vintagey type shop upstairs in the Nicholson building. I bought two lovely soft touch crochet hooks that have been a dream to work with.

We spent most of Saturday morning at Westfield Doncaster before heading home to beautify ourselves. We had dinner in the city at Rosati and then literally jogged in our heels down to the theatre to watch Anthony Warlow in Dr Zhivago - a movie my mother must have watched 107 times by now.

A late night for us then a super early morning to run the family back to the airport.

Just sharing a few happy snaps from my iphone. One day I really am going to invest in a proper camera.

Miss Matilda posing in front of the lovely babushka shop in the city.

Some sibling love.

Oscar's welcoming committee at school pick up on Friday. They all cheered him down the stairs - otherwise known as hellish embarrassment for a 7 year old!

My sister and I and our matching shoes. Caught a couple of ladies laughing at us in the loo line up - I am sure they were just jealous of our red peeptoe goodness.

My big sister Melinda, my mum, my other big sister Tania and I. Poor mum looks a bit short here but we were all in heels and she was in flats having just come out of knee surgery.

My only purchase from Westfields on Saturday (apart from coffee of course!) - and what a bargain for $12.97!

Hot air balloons snapped on the way home from the airport this morning. This image is quite deceptive because they were quite close, I could see the people in them shivering through the early morning clouds and fog!

What did you get up to this Mother's Day weekend?
You can join in with Point and Shoot with Sunny and Scout.

My creative space... Cushion Swap

Oooo, eek, shockingly bad photo!  Sorry!

This is just a little hint of what I have been working on for the Cushion Swap I am participating in.  I'm not sure I like it actually, but am super nervous and wanted to stick with something simple that I could do well rather than try fancy new things that might stuff up, hence the simple granny square.  This will be the front of the cushion and then I was just going to do one giant granny square for the back using the same colours - blues and greys. 

Thoughts?

You can see far more creative people over with Kirsty.

In other ever so lovely news, I won a wee facebook competition from Leslie at OneGirl Designwrks - a baby oobee sleep set pattern.  You can see her lovely work in her new shop just here.

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Cute, yes? 

Point and Shoot: A smashing birthday party!

I think in the future I am going to outsource all my children's birthday parties!  Having someone else run the show meant that I was able to stand back and enjoy the moment and even chat to some friends.  Really, I didn't even have to make a cake as the bowling alley could have provided one!

Anyway, since I created an animation when I made the cake, I figured we needed one for the reverse!

Would you like to join in with point and shoot?   It is now being hosted by the lovely blog, Sunny + Scout.

About me... the 200th post.

It has been bought to my attention that I should probably have an 'about me' page going on but I can never think what to include or not.  I have written some drafts but when I read through them, they just don't sound like me!  Do you have trouble writing about yourself?  When you visit a new blog, is the about me page the first place you head to?  I have read some fantastic about me pages and a couple of weeks ago FatMumSlim wrote a great post on 8 of the best about me pages written by some great people.

While you're waiting for what I am sure will be a riveting 'about me' page to arrive I give you this instead - "Six Secrets on Sunday".

1. I read Mills and Boon books.  Sad I know.  I buy them for 20 cents from the local op shop and I have been reading them for years - probably since my mum used to work for the distributor and we ended up with boxes of coverless Mills and Boons in our house.  I even have a favourite Mills and Boon author (Penny Jordan).  Clicked away yet?  I will fully understand if you have.
2. I was once so angry at my husband I threw the remote control at his head and (fortunately/unfortunately!!) missed.  I do not remember what we were fighting about anymore but I do remember the fury I felt at the time.
3. I am addicted to catalogues and get super annoyed if my husband gets to the letterbox before me cause he throws them straight into the recycling bin (maybe this is why I threw a remote at his head).  I love the big thick ones that arrive from Target and Big W especially.
4. Each time I was pregnant I have put on over 30kgs.
5. When I was 18 I was caught shoplifting (!!!!).  I can now not ever look at or buy the Cellini brand of bags or purses without my heart racing in my chest and fear coursing through me.
6. I was born and bred in Tasmania.

Ok, so they are not really secrets, I just liked all that alliteration!