Crafting order out of chaos

030212

2012-02-03T21:33:00.000+10:30

Well I managed to make the skirt and t-shirt for myself. I am very pleased with both items.

The t-shirt is made from my fav Ottobre pattern and the skirt is from my fav Nicole Mallalieu pattern (I'm a bit of a creature of habit I think!)

I also made a bunch of felt toys for the kids based on a computer game they like playing at the moment. Oddie is a huge favourite with the big kids but of course Poppy needed one too! Moshi Monsters has well and truly taken over our house.

Oh and that annoying cough I mentioned in my last blog post? That would be Whooping cough. :( What a crappy way to find out my booster had run out. I'm continuing to run anyway as I find it really clears out my lungs but I'm cranky that I will probably still be coughing in April. I'm planning to do the Mother's Day classic (13th May) and I want to do the 7.5km run so I have a bit of training to do to get to that distance and this stupid cough is not helping with that.

We did our absolute favourite Adelaide day trip recently and went up to Gumeracha. I spent most of the drive looking out the window for berry bushes and it seems they are really starting to ripen up - hurrah! Once we got there we discovered that since the last visit Poppy has become really scared of the animals, which is sad. It's pretty normal for her age though and I remember Felix and Daisy both getting quite fearful around 2 so I'm hoping it will pass at some point. Felix is still pretty anxious around the animals but that is because the alpaca there is super aggressive and so is one of the goats (the one that 'climbed' me when I was pregnant with Poppy.)

Finally, I am still going strong with the National Year of Reading. I have my Steve Martin book ready to go, and apparently the Ahn Do book is waiting for me at one library and the Tina Fey book is at another. The coughing actually makes it hard for me to read as it breaks my concentration constantly but I shall persevere and reach the goals I have set myself.

230112

2012-01-23T15:12:00.000+10:30

The school holidays are almost over and life as we know it will soon return to normal. We have been slowly winding down after our big holiday and I think all of us are looking forward to the regular routine of school days and weekends again. I've sorted out the clothes, hung out the bags and hunted down all the little food containers so I feel like I am well prepared. I want to do a bit of baking before the week is out so I have a freezer full of snacks (sweet and savoury muffins, scrolls etc) but I'll wait for the heat to pass first.

As part of my new years' resolution to work on my running I did the Resolution Run a couple of weeks ago. I opted for the 4km route and ran it in what I feel was a decent time. My progress has been thwarted lately by a persistent cough that has left me exhausted and frustrated, but I have high hopes that it will finally fade out by the end of this week.

I (hand) sewed up three felt toys for the kids out of my absolute favourite craft book and I think they turned out super cute. Daisy has been waiting for the chance to get Panda Buns for ages (her first choice was Margot) and Felix has had his eye on the Wee Town Trolley for a a while too.

In celebration of 2012 being the National Year of Reading I have decided to read several books a month on the nominated theme. January's theme is 'Amazing read' so I decided to use that as an excuse to read the Millennium trilogy by Stieg Larsson. I just haven't had the time to sit and read a book up to now but I really wanted to read at least the first book so I could go see the movie. February's theme is 'Laugh' so I've selected a few autobiographies by comedians that I like (hopefully they'll be off the request queue in time!)

Finally, I bought non-nursing bra and threw out a nursing bra. This Berlei bra is so darn comfortable that I may end up stocking my entire bra drawer with them! Who knows, maybe I'll even be able to let go of my maternity clothes by the end of the year. ;)

I'm off to finish the t-shirt and skirt I am making for myself, and the cushion I am making for Poppy (a screen printed one to matches the ones I have made D & F over the years.) Then I can get on to the oven mitts to replace the one I made years ago that is in a terrible state of disintegration.

2012

2012-01-01T18:46:00.001+10:30

This time last year I was exhausted but cautiously optimistic. I had big hopes to be more organised but due to my circumstances that had to wait until about a month before Christmas (when I was completely overcommitted craftwise.) I wanted things to get better and that took longer than expected too. I wanted to learn to poach and egg and Cherry helped that resolution become reality at Brown Owls. I made 2011 the year to finally sort my core muscles out and I recently started seeing a physio to achieve that goal. I have a 3cm gap to close before I can get rid of this pot belly but I have taken the first step in achieving that.

So what are my plans this year?

1. To keep seeing my health specialists and not only listen to their advice but act on it too. With a healthy mind and a healthy body I can achieve far more and feel better while I'm at it.

2. To run 10km without stopping. My regular run is just about 5km so I'm looking into apps that will get me through to the next goal of 10km. As part of this I am signing up to all the runs I can find, starting with the Resolution Run in a weeks' time.

3. To get more organised. I know I said that last year but I wasn't in the right frame of mind to do it this year. Now I have so much more mental clarity and a far better short term memory and I think I manage the task this time around. I am rubbish at using a diary and rely very heavily on Outlook but it would be nice to know what is going on without having to switch on the computer. We'll see if I can turn using a home management diary from a chore into a habit.

4. To focus on taking my crafting from personal fun to profitable. I've done it before and I hated it, turning a pleasant past time into a stressful chore. I'm going to try again and see what happens but I'm not going to ruin one of the few things that relaxes me so if I start to get jaded I will drop back to just personal crafting.

5. To stop wearing (and get rid of) all my nursing bras. I am wearing one today in fact and although it is a cute pink and white candy striped bra it is still designed for one purpose. I weaned Poppy a good couple of months ago now so it is time to go get measured (I have changed a *lot* over my breastfeeding years) and invest in some new bras.

So here I am. A year older, a few kilos heavier and in a far better place than I was last year. I have so many things to look forward to, not the least Felix starting school. The little dude is champing at the bit to go to school, although I think the main reason is so he can wear a uniform and carry a school bag (and I think school shoes are a bit of an exciting possibility too.) Poppy might go to childcare at some point in the year but I face that challenge with far more trepidation than Felix going to school. If Poppy goes to childcare it will be because I am going back to day time work and therefore submitting myself to the pressures and stresses that go along with it. All in all I think 2012 is going to be pretty good and will result in an upbeat '2012 in review' post at the end of the year.

2011 in review

2011-12-31T16:13:00.001+10:30

Having just returned from our Christmas holiday I am a bit pressed for blogging time. As I have done in a previous end of year post here are my best and worst moments of 2011.

Top 5

1. Felix started kindy and he loved it! He likes his teachers, has made a couple of good friends and is zooming ahead in his literacy skills. I have no concerns about him starting school in 2012 as I think he will settle in beautifully.

2. Knitting Nancy 2. I really enjoyed doing the Fringe exhibit again this year and had a lot of fun with the theme. Once again I collaborated with a great group of women and I revelled in the online communications we had.

3. Finally accepting I needed help. It was a massive weight off my shoulders to go back to my psych and admit I was not able to cope anymore and the medication she has prescribed has improved my life in a million different ways. I am still struggling with some side effects but they are a small price to pay.

4. I'm running again. I stopped running after Poppy was born as it was just to hard to juggle all of my commitments and I was worried I'd dry up my milk if I went back to serious exercise too soon. Eventually I realised that running helped my mind as much as my body so I took it up again and was in fine form almost straight away. I'm now planning to enter my first fun run and hope to do a full 10km run by the end of next year.

5. Our Christmas holiday in NSW. It was so good to see our family again and to spend some time in a really beautiful setting. The first part of our break was just us and the kids so they'd have time to settle in and i think that was a really good idea. As much as I am happy here I was certainly reminded of all the things that I miss about Sydney.

Not so top 5

1. Felix started kindy and added in yet another car trip to my day. I do feel that I spend more time driving around dropping off and picking up kids than I do at home these days, and I suspect Poppy feels the same way. And it has become really hard to get Poppy to give up her day nap when we go for a drive in the middle of each day and it lulls her to sleep every time.

2. Work. I went back to nightfill and it damn near destroyed me. I was constantly exhausted, all of my joints started to ache, and I lost a lot of weight. The money was obviously the big motivator so I kept it going as long as I could, but in fact should have stopped long before.

3. The breakdown. There is nothing like having a total meltdown in a doctors office to get things in motion. Looking back I can see how far I had deviated from 'normal' but in the thick of it all I could see was how tired and stressed I was. I am a lot better now but obviously still a work in progress so it will be interesting to see how much better I feel next year.

4. Hurting my knee really badly. Sounds a bit trivial but it really did happen at the worst possible time and took far longer to heal than I expected. I injured it by running in a way that was stupid and unnecessary and I have learned my lesson but it has made me aware of my physical failings.

5. I don't actually have anything to put here. I didn't lose any family members or friends, we didn't have to move, and there were no major illnesses or injuries (other than the ones mentioned above.) All in all we had a good year and now that I am looking after myself I feel we are really doing well.

Craft in 2011

2011-12-31T16:13:00.000+10:30

Poppy turns two.

2011-12-11T16:36:00.001+10:30

What a wild ride this year has been! You are my wilful baby, my headstrong and defiant child, the one who keeps me on my toes. Not only do you know what you want but you know exactly how to loudly demand it. And now that you are talking you've found a very effective way of letting people know what is on your mind. We though you might be a bit on the late side as far as talking went but you are speaking in 3 and 4 word sentences now so obviously you are walking your own path in that respect.

You are a child of extremes. When you are angry you are ferocious, when you are happy you are hysterical and when you are sad the world as you know it is ending. You love us with such intensity that it is sometimes almost too much. You creep into our bed at night and insist on lying on my chest as though you were still a tiny baby and hug my neck so tightly that I struggle to breathe. You are hilarious and your exaggerated movements and noises have us in hysterics. You sing songs and dance like a maniac while you have everyone's full attention and you love every second of it. Most of the time being around you is entertaining but there are times (such as 1am) when it is exhausting.

You finally have enough hair to brush! I know we tend to make bald babies but your hair took forever. Now you have a full head of delightful red curls and you are experiencing the joy of having the knots brushed out each day. The other problem these curls bring is the unwanted attention of strangers. You are still a very wary child and don't like people making eye contact with you let alone when they touch your beautiful curls. You do seem to be opening up a little bit these days and only a couple of days ago you willingly hugged a person (although she has known you your whole life!)

What does the following year hold for you? Hopefully you'll warm up to people a bit more and not fear everyone who isn't me. You are very interested in toilet training and I have to admit I have selfishly held off starting training as I don't want to be dealing with it all during our trip over to Sydney for Christmas. I think that when we get back you will take to it wholeheartedly and I'll have a similar experience to when Daisy trained. I'm expecting more tantrums and that they will be bigger than they are now. Maybe you will spend a little bit of time in childcare in the second half of the year? I'd like to trial that but it will all depend on how much more you open up to people. I think you'd love all of the play mates and the constant stimulation but you just aren't ready for it right now.

Happy birthday my golden haired girl. You have turned my life upside down in the best possible way and I look forward to what this next year will bring. Especially if you finally decide to stay in your own bed all night.

141011

2011-10-14T14:33:00.000+10:30

I've been gone a while, haven't I? So many things are going wrong right now and I've been struggling with how much I share on my blog and other social media. I give out snippets here and there on Facebook and Twitter but for the most part I just keep it to myself. My mental health is the worst it has been in years, and I am now trialling my second medication in a month in order to deal with this. My iron levels are so low my GP called me from her holiday in order to tell me to do something about it immediately, which is both frightening and revealing. At least I now have a better understanding of why I have been so exhausted the last 6 months or so. There are so many things I need to change and I just can't find the physical and emotional energy to do it so I'm in a sort of catch 22 right now.

We're at the end of week two of the school holidays now so at least I have next week to look forward to. As much as I dislike the three trips a day I do (for school and kindy) it will be nice to get the two older kids back to their friends and a more stimulating environment. It's been hard work keeping them occupied and entertained and I'm clean out of enthusiasm for that. We've been looking after the kindy chickens for the holidays so that has given us the chance to leave the house once a day, and I made up a check list for the older two so they've been able to keep track of the eggs laid, the weather each day and even the mail that we have been collecting. Poppy will of course be devastated by the loss of her partners in crime (& constant source of entertainment) but that will pass in time. The house has been a total bomb site while the kids have all been home so I will be having a major tidy up/throw out/reorganise next week. Well I'll at least think about it and write a lot of lists anyway. Whether I have any energy to do anything is another matter.

Work has been awful. New management has led to a sense of anger and frustration amongst most of the staff and it seems nightfill has copped the brunt of this. I am quite good at dealing with office politics and have had my fair share of terrible bosses but it is much harder when you are on the bottom rung so to speak. A casual worker in an unskilled menial job is pretty much as low as you can go and I am not used to being/feeling so powerless. Having an illness that I can't/wont talk about at work is also tough and I just don't think I am going to make it through to Christmas like I originally planned.

In an effort to keep going with my wardrobe change I made myself a skirt. I picked up some charcoal grey linen from Spotlight at half price and then used a great Nicole Mallalieu pattern that I have seen lots of happy blog entries about. I also used a Coles Myer voucher my inlaws gave me for my birthday to buy a pair of shoes that would go nicely with all these skirts and dress I seem to be acquiring lately, so watch out world!

I have a few other craft projects on the go (and completed) but they are gifts for people so I shall keep them under wraps until I have actually handed them over.

I am looking forward to this new medication having a positive effect on me. I am looking forward to supplements and an adjusted diet having a positive effect on my iron levels. I am looking forward to the new school term and the positive effect it will have on the tidiness of this house. Let's just hope all of that happens sooner rather than later.

210911

2011-09-21T13:42:00.000+09:30

It's my birthday today but really it's just like any other day. School run, kindy run, chores and gardening. At least I'm not working tonight so I'll consider that a birthday treat. :)

Chris and the kids gave me an apple tree as a present, and specifically bought one suited to a pot so it can move with us from house to house.

I also decided to take action on my clothing situation. The skirt I ordered on etsy arrived and I actually like it, which was a surprise. Sorry about the crappy photo but there is only one full length mirror in the house and that is in the play room.

And because I was on a bit of a roll I decided to make a dress for myself too. Donna passed on a pattern to me which had a dress that was a bit retro and had the potential to look quite cute. I had my reservations as I felt it would hang on me like a sack and I prefer my clothes to be fitted but I gave it a go anyway. I used a vintage sheet I had in my collection (rather than waste money on 1.5m of fabric for a dress I wont ever wear) and put it together. I kind of love the fabric - it is wild and really really soft - but the cut of the dress just doesn't flatter me. I had to modify the pattern heavily just to get to the point where I would bother trying it on and I still feel it is too shapeless. I doubt I'll wear it out of the house but it'll make a nice house dress I think, all soft and loose and comfy.

Anyway I'm going to consider it a step in the right direction and to continue searching for a dress style that I like and that flatters my figure too. I think I have finally settled into my post breastfeeding shape now so even if I focus on my fitness more from now on I'm not going to change much in that respect (strong core muscles and decent cardio fitness are my goals at the moment.)

210811

2011-08-28T22:32:00.000+09:30

I've been reading around the blogosphere about what kind of uniform we all wear, and because I tend to read mostly Mama blogs it is the uniform we wear for the school run. I think the fact that school is going back in the US and the seasons are changing are spurring some of us to think about what we wear each day and whether we need to do something about it. I'm not so concerned about what is flattering or what is fashionable but I do wonder whether I have set myself into a creative rut by not putting much interest into what I wear each day. I did blog about this quite a while back but I can't find the post so I'll recap by describing what I wear every day. A long sleeved striped top, a Vneck sweater and jeans. Seriously. That's it. In warmer weather I move to a plain t-shirt (usually Vneck) and 3/4 pants. No skirts and definitely no dresses (mainly because breastfeeding whilst wearing a dress is just about impossible, especially in public. ) In order to shake myself out of this I ordered a super gorgeous skirt from etsy and it will hopefully arrive just in time for my birthday, and I am determined to give it a good solid wearing before I make a decision on whether I like it or not. Skirts either ride up constantly or make my hips look way larger than they actually are or restrict my stride, so I've got a lot of skirt wearing 'issues' to get over.

I've almost finished the cardigan I have been knitting for Poppy. It just needs three buttons and a final blocking and then I'll hopefully be able to get her to wear it a few times before the weather warms up permanently.

Our peas are all ripening and we are savouring their sweetness while they last. The plum tree is covered in blossoms and the pear tree appears to be waking up too so there is the promise of fruit just on the horizon. Chris has cleared a part of the back yard that gets a decent amount of sun so I might put in some tomatoes and see how they go. It isn't full sun all day though so I'm not 100% sure if they thrive or not. But really the most successful plants in our garden are the bloody vines, especially the ivy and morning glory. It has been so wet the last month or so and everything unwelcome in our garden has gone nuts so if I don't do something soon we're going to be overrun.

Daisy went as Pearlie to her Book Week parade this year. We went through all her Pearlie books and she shortlisted the outfits she liked, and then I let her know which ones I was actually prepared to sew. Eventually we went for the outfit in Pearlie and the Silver Fern Fairy and I think she looked pretty cute.

Once again I have had this draft blog post sitting around for ages and I still don't have the time to finish it off properly. I'll sign off now and come back to talk about all the other stuff I am doing later.

290711

2011-07-29T21:24:00.000+09:30

I have completely lost my blogging mojo. I still have the urge to document my life but I certainly haven't been taking anywhere near the number of photos that I usually do. That in turn leaves me with no visual inspiration to spur on a blog entry and so the weeks pass. I have been busy though and that has left me with no energy to even plan a blog entry in my head, let alone find the time to type it up.

The school holidays came and went. I had the flu for the first week so we really didn't do much at all. I wasn't too worried about that as the kids really just needed a break after a busy term so I just left them to do craft and read books and hang around the house. The second week saw Felix's birthday, a trip to the movies (to see Cars 2), a trip to see Disney on Ice and a visit to the museum (to see the giant squid again.) We didn't have a project to work on like last holidays but I don't think the kids minded too much and I'll be better prepared for the next holidays.

I made the decision to go back to work. We were cutting it very fine budget wise and bills were starting to pile up. I've set myself an initial goal of one month and if I cope with that then I've got another three months. If that goes OK then I'll work until Christmas and then I'm off to Sydney for our big family holiday. So far I'm super tired but I'm hoping to adjust soon and the same goes for the aches and pains. The extra money has been very welcome so I'm really just hoping I can push through to Christmas and then reassess whether I keep going next year.

On top of all this I have been knitting up stock to eventually sell at markets here. Mainly soakers but also matching leggings and beanies. Now that I've lost three to four nights a week to work my output has gone down and I'm so busy driving everyone everywhere during the day I'm struggling to find the time but I'm not putting any pressure on myself. I have set a six month deadline just to get stock together so we'll see how that goes and that will determine where I go from there. In order to hedge my bets I've thought up a business name and locked in a domain name (with just email hosting for now), twitter login, and an etsy store. If doing markets is as much of a drag as it was the last two times I've run a stall I've got the online backup to carry one with.

So what are my days like now? At 8:15am drive the kids to school and drop Daisy off. Go back out at 12:15pm and drop Felix off at kindy, and pray Poppy goes to sleep in the car. Go back out at 2:45pm and pick up Felix and then go around to school and grab Daisy. Go back out at 7:45pm to go to work and get home either just after 11 or just after 12. Wake up and do it all again. I only have to do this for a year and then Felix will be at school and I'll just have the one drop off and pick up each day which will be nice. Once Felix is at school I can consider putting Poppy into daycare a few days a week and going back to part time "day" work which would be really nice. Hopefully Chris will be in a position to negotiate his work times a bit by then and can perhaps go in later in order to do the morning school run, or maybe even work from home a few days a week.

I have no idea when I'll blog again. Once I get used to going back to work, and get used to the extra driving around I need to do for kindy then perhaps I'll find my mojo again. Until then I'll just keep treading water and juggling my finite resources.

Felix turns four

2011-07-14T14:00:00.000+09:30

Your name means 'happy' in Latin and you really do live up to your name these days. You are such a bright and cheery little guy and people can't help but smile when you bounce into the room. You still love to give hugs to anyone who you think needs one, although you have your favourite hug recipients these days (you know who you are!)

You have grown so much this year, both inside and out. Still as skinny as a pin of course, but you have really started to stretch upwards and I feel I spend half my time letting down the hems on your pants these days. But it is what has happened on the inside that has been the big deal. You toilet trained without a single accident - you were just waiting until *you* were ready - and started pre-kindy without a single tear. This term has flown by and I know you are itching to go to kindy four days a week after these school holidays so all those fears I had about you starting kindy have come to nothing. You have finally embraced being a 'big boy' and I am so very glad about that. You confidently go up to other people and speak to them now and you have a little crew of friends that you hang out with when I drop Daisy off at school in the morning. And then there are all the Mums you go and say hello to too, which is kind of hilarious.

You are so smart! You can spell out and write so many words, from our names (Mummy, Daisy etc) to your most recent word "fart". Yes you are a typical little boy in so many ways but I just wasn't expecting such a high level of literacy from you so young. You like to use Daisy's old spelling book and use a whiteboard marker to fill in the missing letters, and when you are reading your books (Toy Story 3 and Cars are popular themes) you constantly ask "What does T R A I N spell?" and "A N D Y spells Andy!" I feel so good about you starting school on time as you are going to be so academically ready for it and will be able to spend more energy on dealing with the social side of things. I have done a lot of reading about holding boys back because they struggle with building friendships and other social tasks and how that affects their ability to learn. But with such a great head start I am not so concerned now and unless something really drastic happens you'll head off to school in July next year.

You are a ray of sunshine most of the time but you do have your moments. Can't get your jumper on quickly enough for your liking? Cry. A magnet won't stick to the fridge? Cry. Poppy does what she does best (interfere in your game)? Cry. This emotional volatility is something we have always known about it but it seems more intense now. I think once you are at kindy every afternoon you'll not feel so antagonised by Poppy when you are home - I seem to remember you and Daisy having a very similar dynamic at the same ages and kindy sorting it all out. I wish you would eat more. It bothers me that you only want to eat a ham sandwich for dinner but it seems that it is a battle that will rage for a while to come yet. Granted, you always have slices of tomato, cucumber and cheese on the side with that sandwich but it really is a lot of extra work for me that I'd rather not have to do. It doesn't help that Daisy is such an adventurous eater these days but I have to remind myself that she too was ultra fussy around your age.

You love your sisters. Daisy decided she needed a room to herself recently so we moved you and Poppy into the play room and set up a single bed in the old bedroom for Daisy. You were OK with this but didn't seem too keen on setting up on the top bunk now that it was free and remained in the bottom bunk (with Poppy in her toddler bed across the room.) That lasted all of about 2 weeks and then Daisy asked to move back in with you and Poppy and you were absolutely thrilled. You love it when Poppy acts like a nutcase and all three of you get all wound up and race around, but she still messes with your stuff too much. Daisy understands that this will pass (as it did with you when you were little) but I'm not sure you have the same perspective.

Your sense of style is amazing. You are so incredibly specific about what you'll wear and combined with your sensitivities about tags and seams it leads you to dress in some interesting outfits. And an outfit is nothing without a few accessories as far as you are concerned. Hats, braces, belts and scarves are all part of your overall look and there is usually only one pair of shoes that you'll like at any one time. I've made you some pretty outrageous clothes lately (all things that you have requested) and I must admit I get a real kick out of seeing you wear it all (at once sometimes!) I guess at some point you'll tame your sense of style down (peer pressure from other boys I suspect) so I'm just enjoying and recording it for now, and hopefully you'll get it back sometime later down the line.

I can't even begin to imagine how much things are going to change this year. In a weeks' time you'll be going to kindy four days a week and that will allow you to form some solid friendships. You'll start hanging around with boys and I'm sure that will change your behaviour (not necessarily in a negative way but there will be changes.) Maybe you'll start becoming more adventurous in your eating? That'd be lovely. I will miss the hilarious little games you make up for yourself once you go to kindy. Listening to you chatting away with your toys as you inventing crazy scenarios for them is so entertaining but I have to admit that I won't miss the astonishing mess you make every day.

Happy birthday little guy and thank you for being such a joyful little sunbeam. This year is going to be a big one for you but as long as you keep smiling everything is going to work out just fine.

070611

2011-06-17T21:53:00.000+09:30

I finished Poppy's quilt.

I'd like to do a small bit of hand quilting in a few places but I'm still mulling that over. It is not structurally important so I'm not going to rush that particular decision.

I ran a workshop at Brown Owls this week and demonstrated how to make one of the jersey scarves I showed off in the previous blog post. Everyone seemed to have a blast and I think almost everyone left with at least one scarf by the end of the evening. I think this is what we need to do in order to get people coming back to Owls. Our attendance has really dropped off over the last year and I think that is because we tend to do a lot of BYO nights and not as many workshops any more. I've got a bunch of things saved in Pinterest and the other Owl prefects are doing the same so hopefully that will encourage people to come back.

Time. I have very little of it. Keeping Felix and Poppy entertained all day, getting the housework done, working on my myriad craft projects, dealing with the garden - these are the things that fill my day. Add to that the occasional Pinterest binge and time spent dealing with all the problems on Mum's website (we have a useless web host that I am desperate to get away from) and I have very little time to think about writing a blog post (let alone actually posting one.) Just for the sake of recording it for future reading here is a brief child update:

Daisy - Still loves school. Is reading like a total champion, doing really well in Chinese despite being a year behind because she opted to do German last year, growing out of her clothes at a rapid rate.

Felix - Absolutely revelling in kindy still, writing words other than names (and spelling them correctly!), being a total fashion diva, growing like a weed, still being super duper picky about what he eats.

Poppy - Jumping confidently now, saying the occasional word and sometimes two word sentence (even a 3 word sentence 'where is it?' every now and then), almost fully weaned, almost over teething, growing like a weed, starting to smile at people a bit.

210511

2011-05-21T22:02:00.000+09:30

Life has been so full lately. We had school holidays, Easter, several birthdays and then school went back and Felix started kindy. Poppy went through some kind of new illness and has been settling into her role as a toddler quite well. Tantrums are a frequent occurrence, she runs for the hills as soon as you put her down anywhere and her general attitude is "my way or the highway". It's perfectly normal of course but Daisy and Felix were easy toddlers in that sense and I am not well prepared for this change in attitude.

Daisy's belated birthday party was a hit. It was really just a play date with a few games but all the kids enjoyed themselves and behaved really well. Even though I foolishly scheduled the party for Mothers Day (oops!) pretty much everyone was still able to come. The 'yucky dip' was an enormous hit and I shall be using that concept for many years to come. Basically you fill a small container (I used a small plastic crate) with water and a heap of water spheres and then hide your lucky dip items in there. Water spheres are those squishy balls you find in floral arrangements and they come in a huge range of colours and sizes (I chose small black ones for maximum yucky effect) and they are really cheap. The personal pinatas were also popular (made from tissue paper coated water bombs) and I'll be reusing that idea again too.

Felix started pre-entry kindy this term so that is one session a week that he gets to go and be a big boy without me around. He was *so* ready to go and as soon as we got into the kindy building for his first session he turned to me and asked when I was leaving. I am so proud of him and how much he has grown up lately, and I love how much pride he takes in being a big boy. He still bursts into tears over the tiniest things (not being able to put a jumper on quick enough, a computer game being a bit too difficult) but he doesn't do it on purpose. So far he hasn't lost it at kindy so I'm hoping that continues and he develops a bit more emotional resilience over the next few terms. One thing I am loving about Felix these days is his dress sense. He has real flair and I love seeing what outfit he comes out of his room wearing these days.

I am currently in the process of making a jacket to go with the lined pants I made Felix recently (with the Bot Camp fabric.)The entire outfit will be super bright and quite ridiculous and I think he is going to love it. :)
edit: Here is the jacket.

I managed to get away for a short break with a group of friends and do nothing but sew and knit and chat. It was so nice to be able to sew without any distractions and devote 100% of my energy and attention to whatever it was that I was doing at the time. We laughed and trawled op-shops and discussed craft, all without the persistent interference of our respective children. I made a jumper for Poppy, finished Daisy's scarf and made her a pair of flanelette pyjamas, and did some work on Poppy's quilt and Felix's bot camp jacket. I feel revived and reinspired from the trip and I'm really looking forward to rolling with this renewed momentum.

Now that I have finished Daisy's scarf I need to find a new knitting project. Time to hit my Ravelry queue and favourites and see what inspiration hits me I think. Felix isn't a massive fan of wearing knitted stuff and Poppy and Daisy have enough things that still fit them so I feel it should be a project for me. I have a few cardigans and hooded vests in Ravelry so it may be a case of working out which project I can afford to purchase the yarn for that seals the deal. I'm really keen on some kind of simple v-neck sweater/pullover so I'll have to have a bit of a trawl I think. I made a cool jersey scarf for myself out of an old t-shirt so I don't really need any more neck wear right now (I still have the cotton cabled neck warmer from last year and about 5 scarves too.)

Time to draw a line under this post I think. I have such a bad habit of starting an entry and then having to shut down and go deal with something, and then forget to come back again. I'm going to go play on Pinterest for a while (my new online obsession) and do some more embroidery on Poppy's quilt, and think about how I am going to cope with the busy week I have coming up.

040511

2011-05-04T20:37:00.000+09:30

Sickness still stalks our house. Poppy got over her gastro but then promptly developed a cold that settled into her nose and chest, and has now spread to her ears. The older two also have runny noses and hacking coughs so our nights are noisy and fraught here at the moment. I am emotionally spent from Poppy 'needing' me so much and physically exhausted by the lack of sleep. And now I have come down with the same cold and it really is knocking me for six.

Over the holidays I set up a project for the kids so they'd have a daily focus and something to look forward to each day. We planted 8 pea 'seeds' into empty milk cartons and numbered them so we could track each seedlings' progress. Each day we wrote a sign and photographed the pots and by Day 5 we had a little bit of green poking through.

One seedling took a bit longer to pop through so it gave us the chance to talk about how sometimes seeds don't sprout, and because seedling 8 showed so much promise right from the start we were able to 'barrack' for our star from day to day.

Ultimately I planted one seedling on it's own, four will go into one pot, one was taken out of the soil and examined and one was eaten. I wanted to show the kids that the young leaves taste like peas and they were both really impressed. We had some great discussions about how plants grow, about how to nurture them and why growing your own food is a good thing to do. I think I might make this a regular holiday activity.

I have been making pants for Felix in the grabs of time I get between dealing with chores and sick children. I've been using flannel I bought from Spotlight as I can't find any flanno shirts at the op shop (nor do I have time to trawl them right now) but I decided to try an idea I saw on a blog a while back. Basically you line a pair of light cotton pants with cotton lycra by making two pairs of pants (one in each fabric) and then sew them together. I used the 'bot camp' fabric I've had for ages and then pants actually turned out really well. Felix loves wearing them but wasn't exactly a willing model this time around.

Daisy's birthday party is on this weekend and I've managed to schedule it on Mothers Day. I thought to avoid Easter, school holidays and Anzac Day but forgot about Mothers Day and funnily enough not one of the Mum's who got the invite noticed either! I've got pretty much everything organised but Saturday is going to be rather busy I think and I'm not going to end up with a very relaxing Mothers Day at all. :)

In amongst the sickness and the party planning I am finishing off a neck warmer for Daisy that I promised I'd do last winter. She's been pretty nice about it though and is just happy to know she'll be able to wear it all through this winter. It's the same pattern as the one I made for myself in green cotton last year but I'm using a lighter weight cotton adnd smaller needles in order to scale it down for her tiny neck.

I'm off to have my tenth cup of tea for the day and perhaps a warm shower too if no-one wakes up and asks for me. That would be very nice indeed.

Daisy turns six

2011-04-24T09:30:00.000+09:30

You're such a grown up girl these days. Sharp as a tack too and those two things really do make you quite the spicy little meatball sometimes. You are constantly picking me up on my mistakes and there is no hiding things from you any more. I cannot spell a word out quickly enough for you not to work out what I am alluding to so Daddy and I are speaking in riddles these days to get around your clever little brain (and dog like hearing.) I am getting a lot of mileage out of the fact that I can easily embarrass you now. It doesn't take much for you to cover your face and cringe but you do still laugh at most of my jokes. You have an awesome sense of humour now and although it tends to be centred around all things toilet related you are also quite the master of the pun. Word play delights you and is a natural extension of your love of reading I think, and we encourage it as much as possible. You are so curious and I try so hard to answer all of your questions but sometimes my answers are just not enough. I clearly recall being told to go look things up in the Encyclopedia when I was younger and I really need to work out how to make that relevant to today's technology (and our existing resources.)

Physically you are still a tall and skinny girl with long feet. It is so funny to see how you have gone from being such a big fat baby to such a string bean of a child but you seem to take after my side of the family in that respect. Making your clothes is the only way to get things to fit you as you have such tiny hips and such long legs and I know the stuff I got from Target for your birthday is going to need to be altered before you can wear it. You are very physical and love being outside on the swings and trampoline, or even better out in the park or on the beach. I can almost see you vibrating with joy when you are out in the sunshine and I dread winter a little bit as I have to keep you cooped up inside so much. You are very proud of how you can ride your scooter and your bike (without training wheels!) and you are forever thinking up new and dangerous ways to perform stunts on the swing.

You love your little sister so much and I think you love how much she loves you back! You want to pick her up and sit her on your lap, and you love to read to her and bounce her around on the trampoline. You tolerate Felix these days but he is pretty intense and irritates you quite a lot. When you are playing your DS he practically sits on your head in order to watch and no matter where you go, he goes too. We decided it would be best if we let you have a room to yourself and put the littlies in another room and you seem pretty happy with that. Despite the fact that he drives you nuts you still love to play with him so you don't actually spend much time in your own room right now.

You still love zebras and ponies. Your favourite colour is still red. You still prefer to wear pants rather than skirts. You still love school. Not just the learning but your teachers and your friends too. At the parent/teacher interview recently your teachers talked about how great a reader you are, how much you enjoy subjects like science and how well you treat your friends. I was so proud! You love trying new foods and that fills my heart with joy. You used to be such a fussy eater and now you are completely adventurous in that respect. You lead by example at the dinner table and I can only hope that the littlies follow in your path.

You give me a lot of attitude. There is a lot of huffing and hands on hips now, with a side dish of flouncing from time to time. You boss your brother around and demand that games be played the way you want and take an awful tone with him sometimes. You are much more resilient than you used to be but you are still fragile and it doesn't take much to crush your spirit. You feel everything very deeply, I think because you *think* about everything so deeply.

I look forward to seeing where this next year will take you. I hope you continue to love school, even if you end up with a not so fantastic teacher next year. You've been so lucky so far but at some point you're going to get a dud and I hope that doesn't mess up how you feel about school. I predict more bad puns, more fart jokes, more unstoppable giggling fits over small stupid things. I hope you continue to love the things I make for you and that your hone your craft language so you are able to clearly explain what you want from me in that respect. Your boundless enthusiasm for life makes everyone around you smile and I hope that you stay that way for as long as possible. People are always telling me that they get swept up in your excitement about things and find themselves talking loudly and flapping their hands about, just like you. Happy birthday my bright and beautiful girl, you are loved more than you will ever know by more people than you realise.

160411

2011-04-16T21:23:00.000+09:30

Poppy is finally over whatever the hell has been wrong with her the last few weeks. We are yet to hear back from the pathologist but the lack of immediate contact tells me that it was not a major illness. If it was a notifiable disease (like Giardia for instance) we would have been told straight away so I'm guessing it must have just been a rotavirus type thing. She is still cutting two molars at the moment though so we are not out of the woods just yet.

With the school holidays looming ever closer and the prospect of being stuck with three squabbling children I have been scrambling to get some activities together. Most of them are for Daisy but Felix will be able to help with some of it, and most of the activities have been taken from the Action Packs I mentioned in the last blog post. That just leaves Poppy and quite frankly where ever I am she'll be and as long as I am either holding her or at least paying attention to her she'll be fine.

I finally got my Target lay-by finalised during the week and I am thrilled to have some new clothes to wear. It's all quite military inspired (I love khaki and metal buttons and epaulets etc!) and that sort of stuff suits me plus it blends with the other items in my wardrobe. Next thing to lay-by is a pair of winter boots and I have a few pages torn out of a catalogue so I can go shoe window shopping and work out which pair I want (and can afford.)

I've been really struggling with my ability to focus the last month or so. I think my cycle is restarting as I have really cut back on how much Poppy feeds (although the last two weeks I have let her ramp it back up again.) The flood of hormones has triggered some mental issues, as they usually do, and I've been battling insomnia and anxiety, plus tension related headaches. I have so many things I want to do but my mind will not focus on anything for long enough for me to achieve anything, and I frequently find myself lost an unsure of what I was about to do. There is the usual temptation to go see someone about it and get some form of medication but I know only too well that that doesn't work. Often the only benefit I get out of the whole process is having someone new to complain to!

We went to Semaphore today to celebrate Chris' birthday with a picnic and a play on the beach. The older two had a great time playing in the playground, then climbing some trees and finally hitting the beach for some wave chasing. Poppy whinged and threw tantrums the whole time but that's fairly normal for her these days so we just tried to ignore it as much as we could. We were planning to have a family dinner somewhere but Chris crunched the sums and worked out we'd end up paying about $80 if we went to Hog's Breath or somewhere similar so I suggested a picnic instead. I hit the Central Markets early in order to get supplies and I think the outing was a great success. Chris got to use his anodised aluminium cups that his Mum got him as a birthday present (they even come in a cool zipped leather pouch!) so he was very happy.

020411

2011-04-05T13:37:00.000+09:30

We've had a cloud of illness hang over our house the last week. Poppy has had some kind of gastro, Daisy has had a cold and Chris and I have felt various flu symptoms. Felix hasn't been sick as far as I can tell but he is so emotional and unpredictable that he is hard work even when he is well! I'm hoping that now that Daisy's school swimming lessons are over that her cough will go away so at least that will be one less person sick in the house this week. That just leaves the grown ups to suck it up and soldier on (with a little pharmaceutical help) and Poppy to eventually get better (thank goodness she is still breastfed and getting fluids/nutrients that way.)

My craft output has been limited for obvious reasons so I don't have much to show for my week. I've been working on getting the fabric together for Poppy's quilt and I have one piece left to source. I'm currently mulling over throwing a completely different colour in in just a few spots but I haven't decided if I'll definitely do that or not. The photo panels are now done so now I need to start work on the applique birds, and I think I have finally decided on the fabric I'll use for them. The only other crafting I've been doing is making doll clothes. Poppy's 'dolly dolly' only had one outfit so I've been putting a few things together for her. Not using any patterns really, just tracing off stuff and sewing it together to see how it looks.

I bought the second edition of Whip Up's Action Pack as I loved the first one and so did Daisy. This one is all about seeds and beads, so plenty of craft and gardening stuff, plus some bonus Easter activities. I've been saving milk cartons so we can plant some pea seeds and watch them grow, and I also like the idea of making pots out of folded newspaper that can be put straight in the ground once the seedlings grow. The beaded dragon flies look gorgeous too although Daisy may need a bit of a hand putting those together. Once they are made I'll hang them on the plum tree and all the kids can enjoy looking at them.

Daisy birthday planning is in full swing. I just need to print out the invitations and then she can hand them out at school. We have the cake worked out, the games decided on and the party food almost figured out. Her presents are on lay-by and due to be paid off soon too so we just have to think about where to hide them until the big way. And somewhere in between all of that we celebrate Chris' birthday, Easter, school holidays and then move on to Felix's birthday. Hurrah!

At some point I would like Poppy to recover from the gastro/teething that she is going through. I'm sick of the gross nappies, sick of the crappy sleeps and sick of her bad mood. And I'm sure she is sick of it all too. I've got quite a few presents to make for parties that Daisy is going to in the next few weeks and I need to organise the stuff for her party too. I've got Poppy's quilt to keep working on and winter clothes for the kids to sew and knit, and I can't really do any of it until Poppy is a little more manageable.

240311

2011-03-26T23:08:00.000+10:30

I finished off the jacket and pants for Daisy's school tracksuit and I think it looks really good. I need to add pockets to the pants (a zipped pocket for her occasional tuck shop coins) and perhaps a zipped pocket for the jacket as well but I'll deal with that over the weekend. She also wants a jacket that does up with silver press studs so I'll reuse the pattern and just add in a bit extra at the button placket to support the extra pulling and pushing. I am incredibly lucky to have a child that loves to wear what I make her as I know plenty of crafty Mums who make gorgeous things that their kids completely refuse to wear (even just for a quick photo!)

Poppy's quilt continues to take shape. I'm just finishing off some small extra details on the embroidery and then it is on to the bird appliques. I need to go through my fabric stash and pick out some pieces of fabric to use (that aren't already going to be included in the patchwork/quilted sections.) Then it will be time to pick out and print the photos I want to use but that's a nice 'late night' task that I can do once my eyesight has stopped me from sewing.

I'm getting ready to bring all the clothing crates into the house so I can start the traditional change of season clothing freak out. I have about 10 plastic crates in the shed with three kids' worth of clothing and shoes but I need to sort through the cupboards inside first and put aside all the outgrown clothes and shoes. We get heaps of hand me down clothes for Daisy from family and friends so the stuff that is too large gets put out in the 'to grow into' crate. I then go through Daisy's outgrown stuff to find unisex items for Felix, and then go through Daisy and Felix's old outgrown stuff to find clothes for Poppy. And then do the same with the shoes - phew! That helps me work out what I need to sew for the upcoming season and what items can be requested as birthday presents from family (long sleeved tops for Daisy, jeans for Felix etc.)

The rain has kept the kids inside so I am struggling to keep on top of the mess and still get things done. I have to suck it up and work around it though as winter is coming (and therefore so is the rain) so I have to think about how to keep a 3 year old and 18 month old entertained inside without anyone going nuts. And get all the chores done. And get my own crafty stuff done too. At least Felix will start one session of kindy a week next term so it'll just be Poppy and me.

Got to see the beautiful photos that we had taken of the kids a couple of weeks ago and I wanted to buy them all! Unfortunately money is in short supply thanks to me stopping nightfill so I had to show some major restraint. I made sure I got enough to send to family interstate and a few for our photo wall and then I had to stop. I'll definitely use her again though as the kids responded really well to her and she took some really beautiful photos.

Time to take a deep breath and go out to the shed I think. The sooner I go through the crates the sooner I can start making some new clothes for the kids.

150311

2011-03-16T11:39:00.000+10:30

I've been beavering away on Poppy's quilt lately, getting more work done on the embroidered panels and picking out the fabric for the patchwork sections. I also enlisted Chris' help to do Poppy's hand and foot prints and we had a flash back to trying to get Daisy to do hers. It's funny how doing the same things with each child at the same age as you get a real insight into how different they all are. When I did Daisy's quilt - see the top just after I had finished it here - she completely flipped out when I tried to press her hand into paint and then on to the fabric. Felix, on the other hand, was not fussed at all - here is the big post about his quilt. Poppy was fine but very wiggly so we got a decent hand print and foot print and then the other two were blurry. It shouldn't take me too long to finish off the embroidery and then I have to think about what appliques to do, so I have a few ideas to mull over while I am stitching.

I made a few more items for the Trimmings competition and had one failure and at the moment I'm not sure whether I want to attempt a different approach or just let that particular item go. Here is the cup cosy and cuff I made to use up the last few bits of fabric.

Now I'm focusing on making a tracksuit for Daisy out of the bottle green fabric I scored from the Salvos recently, using a zippered jacket pattern from Ottobre and pants pattern made from an old pair of pants. Then I need to start thinking about long pants for Felix but he has so many issues with fabric/fit/texture etc that I need to find the emotional energy to deal with it first.

I am feeling a lot better now that I have stopped nightfill. The loss of my income really sucks but I am enjoying not feeling like a zombie all day, every day (and I think the kids appreciate it too.) I am still very keen to go back in 6 months or so once my health situation improves so I'm trying to enjoy my evenings while I still have them.

I'm off to rip out morning glory vine and spray the trampoline with insecticide. Found another red back spider in the yard yesterday so now I'm paranoid about letting the kids play outside. That noxious bloody vine from next door is starting to smother my entire garden and make loads of nice places for spiders to hide so I have to get rid of it quicker than it grows (which is not easy.) I can't get too carried away with the glyophosphate because of the fruit trees but there are some points where I should be able to spray it without harming anything else.

Here are some photos from our trip to Gumeracha over the long weekend.

070311

2011-03-08T22:03:00.000+10:30

Poppy is starting to wean. I've noticed lately that she doesn't immediately ask for the boob whenever she is upset or when I pick her up at night, and in the last week or so she hasn't wanted a night feed. She is still waking up but isn't inconsolable unless given a feed which is a pleasant development. Except last night when she woke up about 5 or 6 times and did end up having a feed but I think her teeth were giving her an enormous amount of hassle. I admit I have mixed feelings about this situation. One the one hand I am thrilled to be getting my body back and there is the slim glimmer of hope that she might start sleeping through the night soon. On the other hand this is *the end*. The end of that incredibly close physical relationship and the emotions that come along with it, and the convenience of it all. I never have to worry about Poppy getting dehydrated while she is getting some of that easy to digest liquid food each day, and if she is overly fractious at night I just feed her to sleep and then go to sleep myself. But she's getting past that age where being sick is so dangerous for her and at some point she'll start sleeping better at night (or at least going to back to sleep with minimum drama) so those factors aren't such a big deal. And ultimately it is her choice now so I won't force the issue.

Other than that life is pretty good. I am slowly completing my entries for the Umbrella Prints Trimmings comp

And getting through the embroidery for Poppy's quilt.

Plus I am scrounging vintage sheets from op shops and worn out business shirts from family and friends in order to get enough fabric to start selling some kids clothes. And starting the planning for Daisy's birthday party. I have set a theme, thought up cool invites, imagined a great cake and even have three party games to organise already. And her party is not for another 7 weeks. Heh heh.

200211

2011-02-24T20:29:00.000+10:30

So I quit my job on Friday. I'm a casual so I don't have to give any notice but I gave them a weeks notice as I felt it was the right thing to do. After many many conversations with all the people in my life whose opinion I value I came to the decision that I had to stop working. I went back to work when Felix was 10 months old and coped just fine. I had about a month of adjustment (sore legs, tiredness etc) and then it passed and I worked for over a year without any dramas. I had every reason to think it would be the same this time around but it wasn't. Poppy is a much worse sleeper than he was, she is still feeding at least once overnight and I am running around a lot more during the day (school run etc.) After that brutal run of illness back in January, when I had mastitis and gastro at the same time and the kids kept getting sick, I didn't really ever recover and something had to give. Rather than my mental health being sacrificed we decided that it just wasn't worth the money any more (and with 5 mouths to feed on one income things are tight) and I agreed to quit. But I am wracked with guilt over this decision and question whether I should have done it. I am the queen of suck it up and soldier on and I can push myself through just about anything, but I think I've reached my limit.

I'm working on a few crafty things but my work supervisor is determined to squeeze every last drop of blood out of me before I go so I doubt I'll make much progress this week. I'm working on some things for the Umbrella Prints Trimmings competition, a couple of bags that will be birthday presents and I've begun Poppy's quilt too. I found the most awesome patterned sheet at the Salvos over the weekend which is perfect for the back for Poppy's quilt, plus I have picked out the embroidery patterns I want to use too, so now I just have to choose which fabrics will make up the quilt top.

But mostly I am going to spend time with my family enjoying the long warm evenings that Summer gives us before Winter takes it all away.

How I make shorts and pants out of shirts.

2011-02-22T12:22:00.000+10:30

I've had quite a few people ask me how I make shorts out of Chris' old business shirts so I've made a very image heavy blog entry to demonstrate what I do. Chris recently gave me a long sleeved shirt he no longer wanted to wear and Felix needed a new pair of long pants (he has finally grown a few cms lately!) so I decided to document the process as I went along.

The first thing I do is cut up the shirt. Never mind unpicking the seams - just grab your scissors and cut. I end up with two front panels (leave the pockets on,) one back panel and two sleeves (not pictured as Poppy had run off with them on her head.)

I then place my pants Back pattern on the shirt *front* pieces. The reason for this is sometimes the shirt pocket is placed in such a way that it can be used as a back pocket on the pants. This shirt didn't actually have well placed pockets but I left one on to show how it should sit.

I then place my pants Front pattern on the folded over shirt *back* piece.

At this point I spend some time telling the toddler to stop stealing things off my table and to leave the pins alone. She ignores me.

Here are the front and back pieces of the shorts all nicely pinned and cut out. I rarely use this many pins to be honest, I usually just wing it with pattern weights.

I use the sleeve fabric to cut out two waistband strips (if I have enough spare fabric in the shirt front and back I cut the one waistband out there on the fold)

And then I use the other half of the sleeves to cut out the pocket facings. If I have a contrasting fabric in my stash I often cut the facings out of that and have a cute design feature in the pants. This time around I just used the sleeve as it was quicker.

You can see the shirt pocket here on the pants back piece. It sits way too low to be functional but sometimes you get lucky and the pocket sits really nicely.

Here are all my pants pieces, and I have already pinned the front pocket facing to the pants front pieces.

Once sewn down flip the facing over to the wrong side of the pants front and top stitch down.

Pin the back pocket facing to the front pocket facing and sew them together. The left shows the view from the wrong side of the pants, and the right shows the right side.

I do a little zigzag at the top and side of the pocket at this point to anchor it properly.

Pin the pants front pieces together at the faux fly and then get a biro and draw your sewing line. No-one is ever going to see it and it make life easier.

Open the pants front out and press it flat. Doesn't matter which way you press the fly (to the left or right) so go with your own preference.

Flip the pants front over and pin the fly down, and then sew along your original drawn/sewn seam. I do two lines of sewing here as it looks nicer.

See? Nice and professional looking. Now do the same for the back seam ( the one that runs up the backside.)

Time to do the outer leg seams. I sew them together and then top stitch them. It looks good, it makes the legs sit neater and if you have fussy itchy seam haters then the topstitching settles that problem too.

I realise at this point that my kids have been very quiet for a rather long time. I spy on them in the yard, note that no-one is injured or vandalising anything and then go back inside. I quickly sew up the inner leg seam and wait to see if they saw me and come in asking what I was doing outside. Nosy creatures.

Time to sew on the waistband. There are myriad ways of doing it so go with what works for you. I sew on one edge of the band first, make sure it actually fits and I haven't stuffed up the measurements, and then sew down the other edge and thread through the elastic.

I then try the pants on my eager model (who has been asking about his pants every 15 minutes) and measure the hem. I then give up on hemming the pants at this time as the eager model refuses to take pants off and runs away with them.

I can now whip a pair of these in under an hour and they are a great way to use shirts which can't be taken to the Salvos due to the collar and sleeves being too trashed. The fabric is divinely soft as it has been washed loads of times and the masculine prints make them perfect for little boys to wear.

*The pattern is one I have adapted from an Ottobre magazine. It is quite far fron the original design these days as I have modded it to suit my skinny snake hipped boy as he has grown and fold the bottom edge of the pattern up depending on whether I want shorts, boardies or pants.*

060211

2011-02-14T10:35:00.000+10:30

The first weeks back at school have been great. Doing the school run in 43C heat on the first day back was pretty awful but that was the only real low point. Daisy is thrilled to be back with her friends and learning stuff again, Felix is not too upset that she isn't around to play with anymore and Poppy is not trying to nap during school run time. Perfect. Felix starts pre-entry kindy next term so that's my next big step and to be honest I have no idea how he's going to take it.

I finished off Felix's pyjamas so now all the kids have their own mama made pj's. I think they look really cute.

I'm now working on a few t-shirts for the kids out of some gorgeous knit fabric that I bought from Crafty Mamas. All three tops are being made from Ottobre patterns and two of them are already drafted so that makes the task a bit quicker. *edit* In the time it has taken me to write and publish this blog entry I have actually finished all the garments!

A ruffle sleeved top for Daisy, a raglan sleeved top for Felix and a ruffle sleeved bolero jacket and leggings for Poppy. And I've still got enough scrap fabric left over for one more small project.

I'm trying to cut back how many shifts I do at work at the moment. I have been doing five nights a week but the way they have been rostered I am not getting two nights off in a row. I always planned to cut back after xmas/new year so I really have to start putting my foot down. I'm so exhausted and I've got things I like to do in the evening again (Brown Owls for instance) so hopefully they get some new staff in soon and I can pull back a bit.

Maybe if I cut my shifts back it wouldn't take me almost 2 weeks to finish a blog entry?! I swear I've only managed to write about one sentence each time I've had the chance to sit at the computer. I love recording my life here and my blog has become an invaluable parenting tool for me. Whenever Poppy is going through something I look up my archives and see what Daisy and Felix were doing at the same age. More often than not I can see that I've been through it all before and have just forgotten and I can usually see how I went about resolving the issue too. I just have to work out how to fit blogging back into my weekly schedule and stick to it and that won't happen until I can get my work situation back under control.

To end this properly here are some photos from our most recent outing - strawberry picking up at Beerenberg Farm.

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2011-01-30T17:24:00.006+10:30

I've been on a bit of a sewing jag lately. I got my Knitting Nancy 2 items done and as a reward I made up a few things that I've put on the back burner. I did want to make a few more things for KN2 but I stuffed a few patterns up and lost my mojo basically.

I've had a piece of fabric since Daisy was a baby but I've never found the perfect pattern to use it with. I have a real problem with that actually. A fabric has to *absolutely* suit a pattern and until I find that perfect pattern I leave the fabric sitting in my cupboard. Anyway I decided Poppy needed some Summer pyjamas and this fabric happened to fit the brief perfectly. I used a kimono top pattern that I've had saved in my favourites for ages - here - and used the pants pattern I've used several times now - here - and I think it turned out super cute.

Of course Daisy then "admired" the pyjamas a great deal (which essentially means she wants a pair too) so I rummaged through my stash and found another piece of fabric I've had hanging around for ages. Her fav colour is red so it once again fit the brief perfectly and she is thrilled with the result (the photo isn't representative of that because she seemed incapable of smiling normally for this photo.)

Now I'm halfway through making a pair for Felix but I've run out of fabric so I may have to start again with another piece I think.

I discovered to my horror that what I thought was a bad reaction to the antibiotics was in fact gastro. I found this out once I had passed the gastro on to all three kids. So I had mastitis and gastro at the same time and didn't even realise it. After missing a bunch of play dates, my brother's engagement party and a week of work we are all now better and I am openly declaring war on all germs. I really feel that we have had our fair share of sickness here and I could really do with a break.

Daisy starts school tomorrow. She is a big grade 1 girl now and absolutely desperate to get back to school. I think she started asking when she was going to go back to school before Christmas and the frequency of this questioning has really picked up in the last week or so. I'll be glad to get her back to school too, to be honest, and I think Felix will get used to her absence fairly quickly. Poppy is now only napping once a day so that will make the drop off and pick up less of a hassle and I've got my fingers crossed for at least a couple of months of no rain so I can ease back into the routine easier.

I've been doing well with my 365 project and made it to the end of January without missing a day. I've got high hopes that I can get through February with the same level of success. It has been a major stretch to find original and interesting things to photograph, and I'm hoping that helps me with my creativity. Because I'm using it to document my every day life I have a useful fall back if I can't think of anything - my craft. I tend to work on or complete some kind of sewn or knitted object each day so I can photograph that if nothing else interests me.

This week is about surviving the appalling heat, keeping the kids occupied now that their big sister is back at school and going back to work. February is my month of organisation (I allow all of January for settling into the new year) so I'm looking forward to getting back on top of everything (the cleaning, my craft cupboards etc.) In fact I'm going to go write some lists now I think. :)

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2011-01-24T12:13:00.000+10:30

Vacswim is over and we can put the swim bag away now (and not have it sitting in the middle of the kitchen table anymore.) Daisy is full of confidence in the water now so I can sign her up for lessons this year without worrying about her not wanting to go after the first lesson. And Felix is doing really well in the water too now and only mildly freaks out if someone splashes water in his face, but I don't think he is quite ready for formalised lessons yet. Poppy, on the other hand, desperately needs swimming lessons as she absolutely adores the water so I need to look into that ASAP. That kid is magnetically attracted to water and needs to be taught how to get out of any situation she may get herself into.

I found a nest of four female red backs and their egg cases outside our house last week. Big fat mummy redbacks nesting in the window sill outside the kids' bedroom. Oh yeah. I emptied a full can of insect spray on to them and their egg cases and then stood in mortified horror as they raced up and down their webs in a bid to escape death. There was no escape though. Chris then went out and dealt with the corpses and the webs for me. He's a good man like that. I was too busy having a nervous breakdown to do it myself. As we had a rental inspection during the week I raised the issue and the agent said she would get Murray Pest Control out here to do an initial spray around which is fantastic. I was prepared to pay for it myself but if the owner covers the first treatment I'm happy to pay for any future visits. The kids play outside *a lot* and it makes me nauseous to think about any other redback nests out there.

The Knitting Nancy 2 deadline creeps ever closer and thanks to some epic failures I have had to reassess what I am making for the exhibit. How is it possible for 100% wool yarn to not felt? Anyway, I now have a cute manta ray and a nautilus (plus some mini crabs which are yet to have eyes put on them) so now I'm on the hunt for a few more things to add to my contribution. I've had to work so much lately that I have had little to no craft time though so it has been hard to even get started on a new project.

Another thing I've been battling for over a week now is mastitis. Again. I've been cutting back how much Poppy feeds and my supply has not regulated quickly enough so that leaves me in prime position to get mastitis. Add to that the amount of nights I have been working and the fact that I have lost yet another kilo that I couldn't afford to lose and you have the perfect storm really. I completely crashed on the weekend - fever, chills, aches, the lot - and decided to make myself unavailable for work this week. I need proper rest and proper nutrition and I can't get that working three to four hours five nights a week. We'll miss the money of course (especially as it cost $80 to see a doctor on Sunday!) but my health has to come first.

I've had this post sitting around for over a week now so I think I'll just hit Post and be done with it.