my creative space

 I bought some Kona cotton solids from fabricdepot.com back in January so that I could make a number of quilts I've been planning for a while.

I have a stack of Liberty fat quarters, a hunky dory charm pack, a california dreamin' jelly roll and a Saffron Craig fat quarter pack which came with a quilt pattern Dandelion Window's. 

I have started the Dandelion Windows quilt, truly I have.  I'm using different solids to the pattern though.

Hopefully writing this and publishing it will encourage me to actually finish this quilt - and the others!

For creative spaces from crafty types who actually have something to show for their time, go here.

a walk in the forest

Miss A went back to school today.  I miss her already. 

We had such a lovely break.  I really love having both my girls home with me.  I made sure I kept it pretty laid back this holidays.  We had a couple of play dates, went to the movies, spent time with the extended family, the girls did an art class at our local community centre and we just hung out.  One day last week the girls and I spent a lovely few hours bushwalking through our local neck of the woods. 

We are so blessed to have this close by.

I don't know a thing about mushrooms/fungi but was struck by the number and variety we spotted along the way.

We also encountered our local colony of fruit bats.  Noisy little creatures. 

Miss B loves bats apparently; who knew?

The girls are great nature and adventure lovers, something I am so glad to share and nurture. 

The track we walked is about 1km in length, as the crow flies.  We took our time, stopping to look at this and that along the way.  At the end there is a little park where we had some lunch and a play. 

When given the option of bush walking back or walking to the main road and bussing it back home, both were adamantly in favour of bushwalking  back!

sometimes no matter how hard you try, they just won't co-operate!

We all slept well that night, that's for sure.

How was your break?

Hope it involved lot's of adventures!

the Annie V-neck vest

Finished!

I made an extra effort to finish this in time for Miss B's birthday a couple of weeks ago.

  I don't think I've even mentioned this project here before. 

I started it out of guilt for Miss B when I started the Dolores Dress  (which I might add is also almost finished!!! Just have to sew it all together and weave in ends.....)Miss B picked it out of the book herself and instructed me to make it purple.  Well actually she really wanted it the same golden yellow as the one in the book, but I could not find any yarn remotely similar at the time.

for Miss A last August, as part of the One Per Month Challenge. 

So, to the finer details:

Pattern - Annie V-neck vest in size 3-4, from Crochet Design for Kids by Lucinda Guy. 

The sizing runs a little big, for my girls at least. 

On the upside, the Dolores Dress should still fit Miss A even though it's taken me 8 months to complete it (almost) and I made a size 4-5 for my 6 year old...........

Yarn - Lincraft Silk Plus.  A composition of wool, silk and bamboo; 4 balls.  This was a nice yarn to work with, unlike some other Lincraft yarns I have tried.  And a very lovely shade of purple.

Alterations - the front and neck band was supposed to be 5 rows of stitching, but as I was running out of wool fast I made it only 4 rows. 

Also the pattern called for only one button, to be stitched to the waist band for decorative purposed only. 

Alas, as you can see the vest is rather big on Miss B, so to try and stop it from constantly slipping off her shoulders I added three more buttons up the middle.  They too are only for decorative purposes, I've just sewn the front opening together.  Miss B chose the gold buttons from my vast collection of vintage buttons.  She loves sifting through them, ooohing, aaaahing and sorting. 

How would I rate the pattern?  Overall, very, very good.  It was easy to follow, the instructions were clear and concise and I've made a beautiful little vest using a simple stitch!

She's happy - I'm happy.

Another UFO done :)

craft punk

image source

I'm going to Craft punk next Saturday.  Can't wait.

Thanks lottielulu for the giveaway!

look and you shall find

After a spur of the moment visit to a local op shop recently with a great pal of mine, I came home with this treasure.

A gorgeous crochet cloth. 

Measuring more then 2.5m long and 1.7m wide I'm using it as a spread on my bed.

After a soak overnight to remove a couple of stains it's now in perfect condition.

Occasionally the op shop god's look favourably upon me.

Every time I look at it I dance a little jig (even if only in my head!)

Here's hoping the op shop god's smile upon you too :D 

Turning 5

Miss B turned 5 today.

 

Happy Birthday Miss B.

Miss B, Miss A, Dean and I spent a wonderful day together 

getting to know some native wildlife a little better

at the wonderful Australia Walkabout Park .

It made me so happy to see the smile on Miss B's face. 

From the minute she got up this morning she was just so happy. 

She loved all the presents she received, including the vest I crocheted for her (see it there in that picture!  More on that later).

My lovely, loving, caring, sharing, purple loving girl.  

She can still be very shy and withdrawn but has come out of her shell an awful lot in this past year. 

She's getting so tall.

 On Saturday we celebrated with family.

I made the cake Miss B has been planning for and talking about for months.  Found in a book we borrowed from the library called

Birthday Cakes for Kids by Annie Rigg. 

This book is a gem, I've been thinking about buying a copy just so I can make sure it's always available to me.

I love you so very much Miss B

xo 

hot cross buns

Yesterday I stopped in at our local bakery to pick up an afternoon snack for Miss A to eat on the walk home from school.  After quizzing the lovely lady who works there about the ingredients, I established that the yummy looking hot cross buns I had just purchased would not be suitable for Miss B due to the fact they contained egg.

Miss B has always been very accepting of her food limitations due to mulitple food allergies. 

But over the last twelve months, on the advise of Miss B's Immunologist, we have slowly, ever so slowly introduced dairy into her diet!!!! 

Miss B has grown out of the dairy allergy. 

This is so exciting.  So super.  So liberating.  So life changing for the whole family.

 

Miss B has recently tasted many foods for the first time in her life.  It has been interesting to observe her varying attitudes towards trying foods with dairy.  Avoiding these foods has been a lifetime habit for her - to suddenly be told you can go ahead and eat them is, I think, confusing for her. 

Some foods she still turns her nose up at, others she has taken to with great relish.  Her new favourite food (chocolate is a food isn't it!) would have to be, hands down, Smarties.  When I was a child, my Nanna would give us kids a box of Smarties every time we saw her.  It was so sweet the other day when we were with my mum and she gave Miss B a box of Smarties...................

Anyway, I digress.  Due to her new found ability to eat various foods, she is now struggling a little with still being restricted by other allergens (being egg and nuts).  Hence the mini meltdown she had when I told her she couldn't have a hot cross bun.

So, today we baked.

Soft, scrumptious, egg free, hot cross buns.

And you know what?

They were even better than the store bought ones!  So worth the effort. 

Next up - chocolate chip hot cross buns.

weekend about town

On Sunday, the girls and I attended a birthday party for a couple of lovely little friends of ours.  Sisters turning three and one.  Their lovely mum is a crafty type, so I decided to give handmade gifts.

For Miss 3 I couldn't go past an On-the-Go Art Satchel made up in this lovely Sanae Oz yellow flowers twill, with spotty contrast.  For the strap I used grosgrain ribbon.

For Miss 1 I used The Bonnet pattern by Amy Karol.  If only I had known about this pattern four years ago when it first came out.  Miss A and Miss B would never have been without one.  Too cute.  Miss A was up for a spot of modelling and insisted I photograph her wearing said bonnet.  Four years too late....................

After the party, we took a Sunday drive into town and wound up at a place we regularly return to, the Art Gallery of NSW, where we watched a very entertaining puppet show and perused a little of the permanent exhibition. 

We then strolled across to the Royal Botanic Gardens.

Levy's Fountain

Happy happy place.

How was your weekend?

Hope your week is a happy one!