hop skip jump

hither and tither

What a week. Audrey's back at school, Henry's making the transition from two to one sleep a day, it's outrageously, scarily, biblically HOT outside (45.7 on Tuesday and over 35 for at least the next 7 days). So plenty of cool drinks, iceblocks and avoiding the outside world as much as possible 

I think the heat is playing with my ability to focus, though that could be just a handy excuse. I've been puttering around over the last few weeks trying to get my doll pattern to a manageable state with the view to putting it up in my shop soon. Almost there - although with the amount of doll patterns already available on the internet, I'm wondering if the girl doll pattern shouldn't be a cat instead. See? No focus.

And thank you for your encouraging words about the mustard quilt, more grey is the plan. Also, a couple of corners of my little house had their five minutes of fame - thanks to Janie for the mention on ohdeedoh the other day. 

cutting the mustard

I've been thinking about a mustard/grey/white quilt for a while, and once christmas was past us I couldn't get it out of my mind. Last Saturday Matt took the kids to his sisters for a few hours and I cut up some mustard for the Hop Skip and a Jump quilt (another from the Denyse Schmidt book). The bottom photo is where I last left off. It needs more work. More grey, maybe? Less of the dark solid? A little of this? Taking photos (even rubbish ones!) and looking back on them like this is so useful. Anyway, progress is s-l-o-w. It's carefully stacked on my desk at the moment because Henry loves to fling fabric about and it wouldn't last a minute on the floor. But a long weekend is ahead, so perhaps some sewing time then.

every day

So it's school holidays. Sometimes busy, sometimes slow, often intense. Especially when you're trying to stay indoors away from the hot weather (41 C yesterday, yikes!) Yesterday Audrey and I made playdough from this recipe while Henry slept. This morning, banana muffins for mother's group later. 

When Audrey was a baby we went to a live-in facility for a few days to help us cope better with her sleep (or, rather lack there of). It didn't really help, but there was a fantastically wise midwife there who dispensed some great parenting advice that has really stuck with me. One such nugget was to do something small every day for yourself. In order to keep your head together and remember that you are an individual outside your role as a mother. Not always possible, but so important. So this year, I'm tackling project 365 - a photo a day on flickr. My history keeping up with this kind of thing is a little patchy, so we'll see how I fare! I've noticed a few of my Flickr buddies who are doing the same. Anyone else in?

taking stock(ings)

 

 

We put away the christmas decorations today and it occurred to me that I hadn't written a post about the stockings that almost never got made. I started gathering supplies for these months ago, and they sat on my desk ignored until a week before Christmas (when everything else is happening)  when I decided they absolutely HAD to be finished by the 25th. The family needs matching stockings! So here they are, made from strings of wool felt beads, grey wool flannel found by my Mum at the back of her sewing cupboard (no one in Adelaide sells wool flannel at this time of year!), with wool flannel from my stash used to applique our first initial onto each. They were a rush job and may need some tweaking next year. But, seriously, that's probably not going to happen. So I hope we enjoy them in all their handmade charm wonkiness for christmases to come.

getting the hand

I'm getting old. After the kids are tucked up in bed every night this week, I've been making a quick beeline for the kettle and then with cup of tea in hand, another beeline for the couch with my hand quilting. 

I've stalled over this quilt top for so long, waiting for the perfect backing, then wondering how to quilt it. On the cusp of shelling out for a free motion quilting foot for my machine, I started quilting it by hand and haven't looked back. It's a good thing I'm enjoying it because at an average of 2 crosses a night, it's going to take some time. No matter, it's exactly the perfect pace for these post-christmas summer evenings. And isn't that the point of doing things by hand? Plus I love seeing the quilty crinkle (that's a technical term, you know) slowly edge across the top. Does it get any better?

new year

Happy new year! Like many of you, I'm in the middle of school holidays. But before normal posting resumes (not that there has been much 'normal' posting here for the last few months...), I just wanted to mention the recent legislation passed in the US. No doubt you've heard about this, already. Whilst it's of upmost importance to consider the safety of the toys our kids play with, this law looks as though it will finish off small businesses and independent crafsters who make things for children under the age of 12 years. Gerald above and toys like him might become extinct. Even for those of us outside the United States, this act will definitely have repercussions. You can read more here and vote on a petition here. 

ps - sorry about my lack of email. our connection went down over christmas and i'm trying to catch up! xo