Sewing day today...finally!

The kitchen table & chairs are covered in bits of fabric, the mini ironing board is set up on the washing machine, & the sewing machine ready to go. I have made 2 apron bodies, & have the ties still to sew up. Time for lunch now, then back to work! Determined to get some aprons & an owl finished. And whip up a new heat pack - mine was making popping sounds & looked a tiny bit not right in the microwave last night - time for a replacement!

Another week gone...

Another week gone again, I swear I go to bed Tuesday, wake up and it is Friday! Where does it go??? Still no sewing getting done, plenty of thinking & planning & occasionally even cutting out... "here's on I prepared earlier" should be the caption here, made another mondrian patch skirt a week or two before the school holidays. Purple. black & grey this time, again all done on the overlocker. I cut out the centre front  ( actually the end piece on the left side) a couple of inches wider this time, which seems to sit better/gape less! Skirts are tricky to photograph when you are wearing them!

4 of us at the PO Monday night, hoping to double that next time - 6th August- and meet at the PO Cafe which is mush bigger & brighter.

PS the boys have talked about getting up at 5am tomorrow to watch the opening ceremony, I have informed them that if they do so I will kill them! Or at least be very sleep deprived, cranky & snappy with them for the rest of the weekend! And be too tired to drive even the sewing machine, making me even CRANKIER!!!  ( I refuse to drive the car if I have had less then 4 hours continuous sleep)

PPS went to the Craft Show yesterday, must take some pics of my finds - 5cm bias binding maker YAY, quilting ruler- finally! + new blades for the rotary cutter, and BEST OF ALL - STAR WARS FABRIC. Awesome!!!

Crafting this week

Yes there has actually been some sewing, knitting &  general crafty stuff happening here...Last week I made a dog for my nephew's birthday. I think it is the first thing I have actually made from the "Softies" books. I have been wanting to make one for the Jedikid, but he always says he doesn't like it because he doesn't like the face on the photo in the book. So I made the face different to the pattern for my nephew ... and of course the J kid liked this one & now he wants one of his own, typical!!!

Last weekend I relieved our lemon tree of 12 1/2 kg of lemons! My H was fantastic in coming up with lots of " lemon maths" for the boys to do - weighing the lemons a couple at a time on the kitchen scales, adding up the totals, calculating the average weight of the lemons; then a guessing competition to try and figure out  which - if any- lemon was closest to the "average"!!!
  Enjoying the glorious sunshine on the weekend, we visited the Flemington market yesterday & got to  meet Ms Curlypops, and Beccasauras - although it turns out, (thanks to Bec's very impressive good memory), I actually met her last year  through work! Small world huh!
See you at craft group tonight - hope you can come along! Meanwhile I just have time to duck down to Spotlight before 3:30, to replace my craft glue  (why does the last bit in the bottle always go tacky & you can't use it???) & use my $5 scratchie!

We have a high school!

If you haven't heard the news - the govt today announced that Coburg senior high will re-open in 2015 as a 7-12 high school! 5 years of hard work by the High School for Coburg group has paid off!  I haven't been as active in the group in the last 2 years due to CWPS commitments but have followed & supported the group since the start. Big thanks especially to Cate Hall who started the group and has been tireless in her work lobbying politicians, media & the Education Department.

PS Craft group at the PO next Monday 7:30-9ish, see you there! Getting a few more projects ready for the school craft stall, if you want a project let me know!

We had a couple of days out of town, our annual weekend holiday with 4 other families. We all have a child in grade 6 this year - we got together when the kids were at 4 year old kinder together.
Loved the rocks, the weather (we were sooooo lucky, it was cold but sunny!), the bushwalks, and the kangaroos that were everywhere (you had to be careful walking around the caravan park of an evening,  a couple of times we rounded a corner & nearly tripped over a 'roo.).

One family weren't quite so lucky, they hit a roo 15 mins out of Halls Gap as they arrived on Friday night. Lucky it was only a small one, so not too much damage to the car. But of course not so good for the roo either. But it was magical to be able to quietly walk up to within about 3 metres of a couple of grazing roos - close enough to hear them chewing! I'm sure the caravan park managers don't really need to mow the grass - it is grazed constantly by the roos!

We walked into town  with the kids (there are 9 altogether) on Sunday evening for some hot chips, and came across this mum & joey. There is something very endearing about the little joey popping its head out of the pouch, and munching along with its mum! We saw another one earlier who really looked far too big to fit in the pouch any more, but he was still trying!. Can't you just imagine the kangaroo mum saying "look sweetie, you are just too big ...  don't you think you are getting too old for that...and you are so NOT getting in with those great big, muddy feet anyway.... you never tidy your room....!!!"

craft markets- quick review

Last Sunday I dropped in to the North Melbourne craft market, after I saw in The Age that it was on. I hadn't been for a year or so, and the Age gave it a great write up, saying it was the best market for handmade & vintage or somesuch. So I had a look, for 22 minutes. Yep, after coughing up the $2 entry fee (what is with that, does it go to a charity/cover the venue hire???), when I check my watch, I had seen the lot in 22mins. With out rushing. Including a brief chat with the nice lady at the recycled-t-shirts-made-into-rugs-fair-trade-giving-women-a-job-in-a-developing-country stall (ok, that would have been soooo much easier if I had've picked up their card!).
There was the usual ho-hum hair clips (sorry, but I have seen too many of these at sooo many other craft markets), some ok-but-not-me jewellery, and lots of overpriced  former op shop clothes. Basically a market for hipsters, judging by the rest of the punters there. But the BEST of vintage? C'mon AGE writers, I know it is only on once a year, but you can not beat the Finders Keepers Market for recycled/upcycled/new/vintage!
Today I had a  chance to duck into  the Northcote Winter Artisans Market (it is on again next Sat. & well worth a look ). It was only a quick look as we were on our way across town for lunch, but I could have stayed for ages. So many lovely, clever, gorgeous things to see!  Loved the sister outlaws re-sew-cool craft kits, and just lost the last half hour or so perusing their website/blog/links. Tea cup candles were lovely too, and I could just smell them through my stuffed up nose. The stall holder there was telling us how one amazing fruity banana/pineapple  candle (like  when you first open a bag of jelly beans I thought!) was  actually called  "monkey farts" but she thought that was silly & not nice! I said it was from the kids' joke  Q.What is invisible & smells like bananas? A. Monkey farts!
As in the one my kids used to say Q. what is invisible & smells like carrots? A. Bunny farts.
I say used to tell this joke... because now we have a bunny, we can confirm that this is not at all true! No carrot smell, just .... smelly bunny smell!!!

More fete sewing...

These are just a few from the MASSIVE pile of granny squares I found at the op shop last year.  I sewed a square of felt on to one to use as a coaster at home, & after seeing a set of 4  felt backed granny's  selling for $28 at the Finders Keepers a while back, I thought we might as well make some for the school craft stall.
I have been re-purposing a few old pairs of jeans too, photos yet to come ( when I remember to take some!). But for now I am off to bed, exhausted after the school disco tonight - it was a HUGE hit! Tigerboy fell over 5 minutes in, had a few tears but then kept on dancing for the next hour and a half. But once he got home, turned on the tears  (boy that kid can act!) insisting the ankle was BROKEN and must be taken to the hospital now because he CAN'T walk anymore. Didn't stop him DANCING earlier  though did it!  
PS finally got my hair cut today, & dropped in to GJ's to chat about bunnies with Georgie. Well I can't go to Angela T's ( hairdressers)  in  Lygon st Bruns & not go across the road can I? I only bought a little bit of fabric....