My little girl is 5 years old

It is hard to believe that my little girl is five years old and that she starts school next year.

 

She is certainly going through the princess stage, but friends tell me that it doesn't last forever. She loves the camera at the moment and has been practicing her poses ...

 

As usual I tried to make the cake. Every year I try to do a sponge, and every year I fail. I am starting to look upon the ritual as a sacrifice to the baking gods.  After the sponge failure, I return to an old faithful recipe that always turns out well. Some jam and cream and pink icing courtesy of blood orange juice.

Tori has had one hell of a month with her eczema, so I baked a bunch of cakes and cookies for her birthday so that at least she would have something that she could eat.  We are booked into an allergist to get some testing done, but until then, she has to be so careful about what she eats and also what we use to wash her clothes in.

Talk like a Pirate Day

It's "Talk like a Pirate Day, and Tori is off to Kinder dressed to the hilt in a costume that has nothing handmade on it except for a cardboard Scimitar Sword that my hubby made last night.

If only I was more organised (and less tired) I would have probably have made the day more eventful!

A wooden weathered sign by pattisprimitives

Some lovely stamps by Enchanting Stamps for craft projects

Ahh the opportunities! Have a great "Talk like a Pirate Day!"

Nicholas at 18 months

It is true what they say, the second child isn't photographed as much as the first one. This is probably due to the lack of time!

 

So when Nicholas was out running in the backyard last weekend, I couldn't resist grabbing the camera and taking a few snaps.

At 18 months his personality is starting to shine through. He is a serious boy, but he seems to be enjoying taking things apart. Still not a lot of conversation, but he knows what he wants and how to communicate it.

When spinning on Daddy's computer chair, we get fits of laughter out of him.

Next month we are off to see an ear specialist. He has had three ruptured ear drums this year and many more ear infections. We are hoping for a solution and perhaps an opportunity for him to vocalize more, although every one tells me that boys (especially if they are child #2) are a bit lazy when it comes to talking.

One of these day's I will get some time to do some crafting. Two weeks to go until I finish my Uni subject and then watch out sewing machine.

Hexy Floor Pillow

I keep on flipping back to this gorgeous floor pillow as a potential project. Terri from Sew Fantastic has done a wonderful job and has a great tutorial on how to make it using a sewline glue pen.

I love the idea that this floor pillow is a colour wheel.

Here is more inspiration for those of you who love to applique ....

via Sunflowers and Dragonflies

This design appliqued, could be a nice scrap buster.

The humble Fez

I stumbled across this picture of the insatiable Will Wheaton sporting a rather funky Fez from Fez-o-rama. They have a great range of geeky products and the ability to create a custom Fez!

Picture via Atom Moore Photography

I've been enjoying watching Tabletop, Will Wheaton's you tube show about Tabletop games. Even though I'd rather create than play than a game, it is reminiscent of a time when I did do a lot of  role playing and game playing. Tabletop is brought to you by Geek and Sundry, which have a great collection of indie/geeky you tube programs to watch. Including my favorite, The Guild. Another great youtube program to watch is Sword and Laser which is a Science Fiction and Fantasy book club which has migrated from podcast world into you tube.

Every once in a while I get a "rush of hits" on my Fez Pattern. There is no rhyme or reason why people go looking for a Fez pattern and I am not even sure whether my pattern is useful!

Have you made a Fez from my Fez Pattern? Would you like to share the pictures?

The irony of reading about running

The irony isn't lost on me. While I have been mostly couch bound in the evenings with my broken foot, I have been working my way through 50/50 by Dean Karnaze. A book about an ultra marathon runner who ran 50 marathons in 50 days.

The read is amazing, recording the trials and tribulations that go along with attempting a feat such as this. I am no where near being ready for attempting anything other than a 5km run, but one day it would be great to have a marathon or half marathon as a goal. For both fitness and also mindfulness. The act of going out for a run, especially on a cool raining day is both exhilarating and relaxing.

For me the act of running is both primal and such a simple way of achieving fitness. When I first started running, I got shin splints. After every run I was in agony. But after a while, my legs adjusted and now I don't have that problem. Dean talks about the human body's ability to adjust to stresses. Throughout his Endurance 50 feat, he had regular health checks and the medical information recorded showed how much his body adjusted to running a marathon each day. I think that often we underestimate our bodies ability to adjust and evolve.

A friend of the family, Martin Stern, is raising money for the Leukemia Foundation in Australia so that he can do the London Marathon in 2013. Our community has been touched by Leukemia in recent years and he wants to raise $10,000 so that he can participate in the London Marathon next year. The physical and mental dedication required to do this is tremendous. If you have any spare $$, please consider supporting him in his cause.

In three weeks I am scheduled for an Xray to my foot. Hopefully it shows that the break has healed and then I can start physio and then I can work on getting my stride back.

A perfect day for flying a kite

The weather was gorgeous today and the sun lured us out of the house into the backyard for some overdue Vitamin D recharging. The girls wanted to fly a kite, but the only one that we had was a double string super-dooper kite that required a bit more hand eye co-ordination than two four year olds could handle. 

So we grabbed some plastic bags, drew some pictures on them and tied them to string. A perfect solution for two kids with too much energy.

Today was the first day that I have been out of the house in close to two weeks. I came down with a horrible cough about three weeks ago, but little did I know that the pain medication that I was on for my broken foot interfered with and made the cough ten times worse.

A chest X-ray, some high grade anti-biotic and a wonderful steroid inhaler and I am feeling remotely human again. I have had a week and a half off work, the longest I have ever taken. I literally couldn't function, or breath, the diagnosis was severe Bronchitis. I still have "crackling" on my lungs, so I will be on medication for another two or three weeks.

Barbie Tote

It has been a while in between projects, but the other night Tori and I decided to make something for her friend Hannah who was turning 5 this week.

We had got her a doll for her birthday and Tori wanted a bag for the doll. So having previously lusted over the Nicole Mallalieu Craft Tote in Homespun 13.06, I decided to take a look at the project and adjust it so that it would fit a few dolls with pockets for clothes.

Nicole's instructions, as usual, were wonderful. Lots of detailed and tips and hints on how to do things better. But I did have my challenges, having a seriously fractured foot in a support "boot", and having to use my left leg to operate the sewing machine. Tori picked out the fabric for a bit of stash busting on the front. I sewed together a length of patching and then cut out the shapes for the zipped panel.

 

I only had black zips on hand, but I think that it makes it easier for a kid to see ... I didn't add in rings on the lid of the box, just a big handle that can go over someone's arm.

  

As you can see, Belle fits beautifully inside the "Barbie Coffin" (as a friend coined it on Facebook) and the pockets around the outside can be used for clothes.

My next task is to make one for Tori for her Barbies. I will probably put in the lid pocket that Nicole includes in her tutorial  in clear PVC for shoes and tiaras (as you do).

You can get a hold of the pattern by purchasing it through Zinio for $3.50 electronically and the pattern pieces can be downloaded here. I love the physical magazines, but I just done't have room for them. Electronic ones are good to bookmark and print off the pages that you want to work with for the projects you are doing.

How do you get your craft magazines? Physically from a newsagent, subscription or do you use Zinio as well?

Have you made a 16 patch quilt?

I was excited to notice this post this morning, someone has actually taken one of my tutorials and made something! What a warm fuzzy feeling to start my day with! Of course I have FaveQuilts to thank for posting it onto their site and for sending it out in their newsletter.

Posted by Karen of Hazel Dell Quilts, isn't this 16 patch gorgeous! I love the lavender sashing and the colour combination that she has chosen.  Can't wait to see how she binds it and what fabric she uses.

Picture of Karen's Quilt

Have you made a 16 Patch Quilt using my tutorial? I'd love to see the pictures and I would love to have some feedback!

Hoping you are having a crafty day!

Margaret

Are craft retreats the new black?

What I would give for a weekend away, and the prospect of enjoying that weekend with girlfriends and sewing machines makes me giddy (plus a little Colin Firth). There hasn't been a lot going on in terms of crafty stuff at my place. I did do a spot of crochet last night while watching "The Sound of Music" with my daughter, but I yearn for the opportunity to make myself some clothes or finish at least one of the quilts that I am making for my kids. To totally immerse myself in the crafty zone.

Oh to leave the sewing machine set up! via

 

Curlypops blogged about a new craft retreat at Woodend, and I hope that I get a chance soon to enjoy this lovely venue because Cam has also posted pictures of what it looks like (which makes me want to book a weekend NOW!). They have an open day this weekend so that people can go up an check out the venue.

Head on over to "The Retreat Woodend" homepage to see what it is all about and blog about it to be in the running for a free weekend.

Tomorrow heralds the start of Term 3 for me which means back to teaching and back to Uni (part time). The school break didn't give me half a chance of achieving my crafty equilibrium. Still fighting to find a crafty balance in my life, I guess I will just have to take some hand stitching or crochet to work during the lunch breaks.