So many projects!

A few days ago the kids went back to school. The silence roars! I've been really busy while alone working on a few things.

1. I've started scripture journaling (digitally)

It gives me the opportunity to be creative each day plus spend time in the Word. I'm really loving this and loving what I am learning as I go along.

2. I've caught up with a few project life pages

3.  I've made headway with my Stripey Crochet blanket. I've been working on that while watching TV. My only issue with this is that I am running out of half of the colours - hoping I make it to the end alright.

4. I've finished the bunting for the Sunday School room at church. I seriously under-estimated how long it would take to make 20 meters of bunting!! I will show you a picture of that when it is hung up at the church.

5. I'm working on a quilty project for my Mum's birthday. I decided a few days ago that I would do that. Her birthday is in 9 days. Yes I am freaking out.

And in amongst all that - I have made headway into doing a big declutter - starting with the king of collections and mess himself - my son's room! 

Unplugged = less distracted = more productivity

This year I have decided to spend one day a week off social media such as Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram etc. This is my second unplugged day and I must say I get through a lot without the social media distractions. It's not like sit there all day looking at it - but it's the interruption of "I'll just check... for a moment" and it must interfere with momentum or something.

As I look at what I achieved, it appears that I was jumping from activity to activity, but it didn't feel like that. I spent my day focused and working away at each thing until I felt I had completed enough for the day and moved on.

Today I managed to:

• Cut up some fabric for the enormous lot of bunting I am making for the Sunday School
• supervised the kids dusting/vacuuming/tidying their bedrooms
• washing sheets
• shopping for luggage
• Did a Project Life page
• Wrote a letter (I KNOW!!! WROTE!! I can't remember the last time I wrote a letter)
• Did a few stitches in my cross stitch.
• Packed the kids clothes for our camping trip
• Decided to do the Fat Quarter Shop Cross Roads Quilt Along for my bed (King Size! Gulp!) and have made a list of the fabric I need to add to the fabric I already have to make it.
• Went digging around in my WIP's and found a partially done quilty project which I want to finish for a purpose now. I pressed all the blocks I have already sewn and plan to sew up a stack more soon.

(Cross stitch)

(My WIP that I found)

It's been a productive day and I know that my crafty time will become less over the next few days as we start to prepare and pack for our camping trip. It will be quiet around here while I rest and relax with my family by the river. I know... it's tough. But someone has to do it.

"One Day" came today.

In the wee hours of this morning I turned over in bed, trying to ease my back and settling back to catch at least 4 more hours sleep. My brain was sleepy and not really thinking about much. It floated off in the direction of something I keep saying I need, but never make it a priority to just make it!! "I really need to make myself a thread catcher. My side table is always such a mess with ends of threads." 

My brain came to for a moment - "Well... if you are thinking about it at 4 in the morning then it must be important to you. No more wishing Madam Skipper! Just make it already!". I snuggled into my pillow and dropped off to sleep.

Today I was determine to make myself a thread catcher. As I wandered into my craft room I looked at my side table and scoffed! "No wonder I keep losing my needles - it's just sitting there waiting to be knocked off! I'm going to make myself an armchair caddy too while I am at it!" I have been wanting one of those for ages too. One day, I would make myself one, I would always say. Well today was "one day". 

I opened up my box of scraps and there sitting on top was a collection of fabric sent to me by a dear friend who has sent me stacks of lovely fabric, blocks and leftovers from her quilts. I absolutely treasure what she sends me and I keep saying "I'll use that for a special occasion" or "One day I will use that for a special project." Well today was "one day". It's silly hanging on to fabrics that I love waiting for that moment. I was going to use them today. So I did.

I pulled out my massive box of leftover binding that I was going to use one day - and since "one day" was today - I used some of that on my project.

And here we have the finished project.

I like one days! One days should happen more often I think!

Do you have projects for the elusive "One day?" 

Advent Blog Along #9

What I am creating:

Today I finished off the lavender eye masks - and they are now packaged up and ready for gifting. Excuse the grainy photo but the sun had set and I wanted to get it before I got the awful orange glow of our lights!

I tried to make the Christmas card envelopes look pretty by experimenting with lettering.

That was actually kind of fun!

These are the soap stuffed scrubbies that I crocheted a while back. I love them! Definitely a gift idea I will be repeating!

I had a ARRRRRGHHH! Moment a few hours ago when my darling dearest son mentions to me that he has THREE aides instead of the two he had last year. I had only sorted Christmas presents out for two aides. Cue a panicked scramble!! I dug out a spare crochet bag that I made last year and whipped up another eye mask. Seriously son... don't do that to me!! Thankfully I sometimes make extras when gift making.

What I am doing:
I spent most of today out and about. The boy had speech therapy, then I spent the rest of the day searching for bathers. Why did it take all day? Well..... my big girl wants to be modest yet not look like a granny. The result - hours and hours and hours and HOURS of shopping. We finally found a pair that she is happy with and she looks her age. Ahhh the perks of having a very womanly looking 12 year old girl. While I was bather shopping these just jumped into my trolley....

I've been thinking about the new year coming up and what I want it to look like. I have been rethinking how I do New Year's resolutions and I want them to evolve as I change and grow as a person. I will tell you more in the New Year - but it will be impacting my creative life. Stay tuned!

What I am listening to:

Advent Blog Along #7

What I am creating: 
Today was a productive day! The deadline for teacher's gifts is looming! So I got cracking. Here is a sneak preview of what I got up to today. All will be revealed when they are finished.

 Sewing.....

... and making cute labels!

What I am doing:
Tonight's Advent activity was that the kids wrapped the presents they bought for Daz and myself.  I can't show pictures of this because we will then find out what we got for Christmas! Can't spoil their fun now!!

What I am listening to:

Going soft!

Apart from having a serious case of CADD (Crafting Attention Deficit Disorder - it's a real thing!! Believe me!!) this morning, I finally was able to focus and start AND finish a project in an hour and a half (whilst having a conversation with my husband and reshuffling our calendar!).

LOOK AT THE PRETTIES!!!

Six new scatter cushions for our couch! I'm so happy with these!

Change mats

Once upon a time, there was a lady named Skipper who was married to a handsome prince named Daz and together they had a beautiful baby girl - Princess Mop. One day, while changing Mop's royal nappy, Skipper saw a trickle of wee run down and onto the change table. Poor Mop was in a pool of wee while Skipper looked around frantically to see what she had on hand to soak it up. Meanwhile it was soaking into the little princesses clothes - requiring that she be bathed. From then on Skipper made sure a terry towelling nappy was under Mop's bottom - and the towels stayed on that change table in varying colours for the rest of Skipper's nappy changing days. Skipper and Daz's little prince and other princess benefited from this wise parenting decision.

Fast forward to today - Skipper remembered loving how easy it was to rip out a wet or soiled towel and chuck it in the wash and replace it with another. But what if the towel could be replaced with something snazzier? Something cuter? But equally as convenient and easy to wash. Too bad Skipper did not have the sewing savvy that she has today because she might have gotten good use out of these babies!!

(Change table mats!)

Skipper's baby bearing days are over (I hope!!) and the change table has been long replaced with a doll house and toy box. But that does not mean other new mother's can't benefit from the oracle of motherhood's wisdom. :P

Flu, uni assignments book week and not much else.

It's been quiet in here mainly because I haven't had much to show and tell. My craft room is still piled in a corner of the house while we paint. So far we have prepped and painted the ceilings and cornices. We would be just about finished if......

.... flu didn't arrive at the house.

One by one the kids dropped with a nasty virus which landed them in bed with endless supply of teaspoons of honey and chamomile tea. I was a part time nurse, part time "OH-MY-GOODNESS-WHY-DID-I-LEAVE-MY-ASSIGNMENTS-TO-THE-LAST-MINUTE" student. As the last child recovered, I suddenly was hit with an exhaustion that I recognized - the pain in the groin and armpits - the sign that my body was fighting a doozy. For 4 days I shivered, sweat, moaned, groaned and waited for the pestilence to pass. EJ had a relapse and spent a few days in bed. Milly followed close behind. I had two sick kids and a sick self... and in the middle of that I smashed out two assignments (one I had to ask for an extension because it was a spoken assignment and I had no voice!). Once the fever subsided, I was left with a hacking cough and an exhaustion that left me shaking like crazy if I stood for more than 5 minutes.

While I was crook, I got hubby to lift up my sewing machine onto the table so I could whip up EJ's book week costume.

I found a burgandy velvet jacket at the local Sally Armies - price at $7. Not bad... until I get to the register and I find out it's half price yellow tag day.... and guess what had a yellow tag??? I took adjusted the jacket so it didn't swim on poor EJ so much. Daz found a purple top hat in Cheap as Chips for pittance, which I painted up. Mum had a cane lying around at home which I painted black and gold.  It was a simple costume, but he loved it! And he won a prize for best dressed boy for his class, so I was pretty stoked.

I didn't make this costume, but I'm going to show you anyway because it's so cute! Here is Milly-Moo dressed as Lucy Pervensie from The Lion Witch and the Wardrobe. She did ask for the medieval costume, but I couldn't do it - so we compromised with evacuee Lucy. 

Once the fever had worn off, and I had the ability to concentrate, I made really good progress with my latest crafty project. I'm pretty happy with how it looks and I'm starting to get into a groove with it. This cross stitch isn't as mindless as crochet, so I need to be able to focus on it.

10 days of flu later - and now I begin to recover from it. Hopefully I will get more cross stitch done and maybe some crochet if I fancy it.

Hopefully next time I post, my craft room will be back and I will have my creative space to play in. I am getting antsy about it... after all, Christmas preparations should be well underway!!

 

Baby Shower present (part a)

Spit cloths!!

I'm pretty pleased with these. They are just random fabrics that suit the milk overspills of a baby boy or girl. I hope the Mum-to-be is just as happy.

I've made more!!

Spit cloths that is! My cousin is expecting a baby girl anytime now - well... his wife is... :P I think these will be a lovely gift for them to catch all the puke and drool that babies seem to have in abundance!

4 little skirts for 2 precious girls

I whipped up these skirts for my two nieces. Nice light, cotton skirts that the girls can wear while they are with their Daddy. Don't you just ADORE that turqoise blue with pink flower fabric?? I have some left and want to use it for something special. Not sure what yet! LOL

Burp Cloths (15 in 15 challenge)

A few years ago I whipped up a few burp cloths for a friend's baby shower gift. I had cut up a few more bits of fabric and some toweling, pinned them and then they ended up in my WIP box. Today they were pulled out and finished.

It was good to dig out a small project that I could whip up inbetween labeling lunchboxes, pencil cases and all the school stuff the kids need to start back tomorrow. I certainly felt satisfaction with my first finish for the 15 in 15 challenge!

Modesty aka cover them ugly knees!

Last year I bought myself a beautiful dress from overseas. I had been in love with it for ages and watched carefully for specials so I could have an excuse to buy it. That moment came and I bought it! When it arrived I was disappointed to see that it was shorter than I expected. The model was 5 foot 100 and the dress sat just above her knee. Me at 5 foot 1 - I assumed it would sit either on my knee or just below it. It didn't. I could see my ugly knees. I hate my knees.

Not to worry! I had seen someone with this same dillema on Pinterest.  They ended up making a slip to wear under their too short skirts. I don't do petticoats or slips or any other thing like that. So I attached the cute lace strip to the bottom of my dress.

The dress now sits below my knee and I feel comfortable and extremely feminine in it. I can't wait to wear it.

Last minute gift making! (Advent Blog Along Day #23)

It's no secret that I have made very little in the way of gifts this year. To be honest, I have missed it. Maybe next year I will make more?  

But Christmas isn't Christmas without that last minute gift making frenzy. This morning I whipped up a few scented drawer sachets. I pulled out some scrap fabric and quickly whipped these up. I filled them with dried lavender (I already had!) and they smell beautiful. This is for the mother-in-law of my friend who we will be spending Christmas with. It's not much, but I don't want to come empty-handed. 

Stash used:

1. Fabric scraps

2. Ribbon

3. 3 x bags of  lavender

Shorts in July

The countdown is on! Next week we head up North to the warmer climate and to explore the top end of Australia. I whipped up a pair of shorts for my big girl to wear since she has outgrown all her summer clothes. They are a lighter denim fabric so it should go with all the tops she has. 

My poor girl was turning into an icicle while I took this photo. She was saying with gritted teeth "COMMON MUM!! It's freezing! My feet are going to be blue in a moment!"

WIP Wednesday - still sewing

Another WIP Wednesday rocks around!! It's insane how fast time is flying by at the moment! 

This week's WIP is Mop's warm weather clothes for our up and coming trip to the north of Australia. So far I have made one pair of shorts, another lot is cut out and I am going to have to concede defeat. It's tricky trying to make clothes for someone who spends most of her day at school. Thankfully school term ends on Friday so I can tweak and fine tune the final fit for these pairs of shorts. I have so much packing, cleaning and other organizing to do. This is a perfect excuse to check out Savers, don't you think?  

Looking forward to seeing what you are working on. If you are Aussie (or not) and want to join in on the Aussie WIP Wednesday - then head over to Madam Dove and link up.

I will win! I own you!

Like thousands of other people - I bought an overlocker and quickly grew frustrated with it because it wouldn't work!! I did everything in the manual! It STILL was making me not think very devotional thoughts about it.

This weekend I NEEDED it to work. I needed to whip up some summer clothes for my eldest girl who is growing so fast I can't keep up with her. We are heading to the tropics for a holiday and it being winter, there are no summer clothes around. So it's up to me.

I sat down, faced my arch nemesis, pointed at it and said - "I will conquer you!"

See it trembling with fear at my authoritarian manner? No.. that's because it was staring back at me with attitude and a "Oh really??" like all touchy overlockers do.

I loaded up a series that I pinned a while back - a relationship rescue for overlockers. I swear if it wasn't going to work for me this week, I was going to chuck it in the bin. I was over it! 

Turns out that it wasn't the overlocker with the issues. After some guidance on understanding the sensitive needs of the machine, she purrs like a kitten and she is working for me. 

Queen of Hearts

One of the downsides to having your little ones grow up is that dress up days and the need for costumes are few and far between. But when the opportunity arises, you grab it and run with it with enthusiasm!

So here is how it went:
"Mum, I need a costume. We have to dress in a royal theme..."

"Right, so what do you want to go as?"
"I don't know."

I made some suggestions. All met with a wrinkled up nose and a head shake. "How about you offer some suggestions?" Shrugs of the shoulders - and then a "I guess I'll have to go as a Disney Princess." said in the tone of "I guess I may as well get beheaded."

Beheaded... hmmm..... "What about the Queen of Hearts?" I say. She smiles. She gets excited. I would say that is a yes. 

But a traditional Queen of Hearts costume would have taken me FOREVER. So I made one that had a more modern take on it. Rocker/Emo + Queen of Hearts. I think she rocks it!

Her favourite part of this costume is that it made her look fat - and her rear end was HUGE!  "It's more traditional - after all the Victorians stuffed their bustles with feathers and all sorts of stuff so that their bottoms would look big!" *Secretly proud that she knows this. 

"Someone's head is going to roll...."

"OFF WITH HER HEAD!"

This project was inspired by this pin 

Oh what a feeling!

I have never ever had a brand new sewing machine before. I've had three machines... but they were never mine from the very beginning. I had Janome Memory Craft - who passed away a few months ago at the ripe old age of 35 years. Then I had a Pfaff - which had a broken bobbin mechanism and would cost so much to get the part replaced - so we just didn't bother. She was in her late 20's.

Then I had just a plain ol Janome - who clunks along. She is nearly 20 years old. She's still going mind you and I am not giving her away until she gives up the ghost. She will be on hand for when one of my girls want a machine to learn on, or if I need a second machine for whatever reason. So these are the machines I have had... until now.

I need a machine that is more capable of quilting stuff. It's not exactly a hobby that I've gotten sick of over time. I'm planning on doing this until I die, or my arms fall off... I read reviews online and ummed and ahhed about it. I dreamed of the REAL quilting machines, but knew that isn't possible for us until the kids leave home. 

On Sunday my husband took off with my Spotlight $40 off if you spend $100 voucher and came back with a brand new machine. A Toyota Quiltmaster. It was half price in Spotlight - and then we got an extra $40 off that half price. NOT BAD I SAY!!!  Yes my hubby rocks! I guess we figured this one will tide me over until I can afford that 3 grand one when we retire! LOL. What's the occassion? Only that it was Awesome Wife Day. I know... I'll keep him. 

I've not had much time to play with this baby yet, but so far so good. It has all the attachments a quilter could want (darning, walking, 1/4" foot etc) and it runs so quietly compared to my clunker before her. My only humph is that it doesn't have a thread cutter. WHAT modern machine doesn't have one of those??? So I have to use my scissors when I want to cut thread. But I can live with that. Especially as this machien is sooooo pretty! And brand spanking new!! :D

I have a quilt basted and ready to go. I will give her a good go then. But for now I have a secret squirrel project that I need to wrap up - THEN I will have a good play. More about that later.....

Skirting around it

Last summer I bought a massive pile of cute summer cottons in the hopes of making the girl's summer wardrobe. PFFFTT!! I got a whole lot of nothing done! So this summer I figured I might have a go at making some things. The elder madam's recent growth spurt means that this is becoming a reality! Nothing like a sobbing, hormonal, pre-teen girl with her head leaning against her chest of drawers wailing "I have nothing to wear" (let me begin by saying - she does have things to wear, she was in the middle of a hormone induced meltdown!) So what does a Mama do when her big girl is wailing that she has nothing to wear? 

Pin here

Original link here: