Last minute, life altering, epiphany, rainbow bunting

I had an epiphany of sorts this week. Actually three things all happened recently to give me a collective and massive mind shift. The first happened about six weeks ago when Roboboy who is now seven and a half told me he no longer needed me to read him a story at night. In one fell swoop he was done, with no warning. We were two chapters into Harry Potter when he said that I was just too slow and he  could read much faster himself, thank you very much. To my great surprise, I was not done, not prepared and not ready to give up this long held ritual of childhood.

Our house runs with a lot of ritual and sameness. For someone like me it is simultaneously both somewhat reassuring and incredibly stifling. There have been nights where I thought I may have still been reading books to this boy when he was twenty three. There have been nights where it was not exactly what I felt like doing at eight pm. I certainly never, ever thought about the day when it would stop. Just like that.

The second thing that happened was the final check up with the plastic surgeon who removed my melanoma. All is well with my scar. Then he wanted to check my groin, for lymph nodes. Gulp. Just to make sure I was not in that five percent, that small number where their melanoma would come back.

Mostly I have put that five percent out of my mind. Sometimes I think about that fact that is a one in twenty chance. If someone told my I had a one in twenty chance of winning a million dollars I would be a teeny bit excited. I would think that it was a real possibility, that I was in with a chance.
But I don't want to be in with a chance at all. So, I'm going to get on with it and put that tiny number out of my mind. But I'm going to make every day count, because you just never know what is around the corner.

The third thing was realising that my only other child, my youngest, my darling girl was turning five. Soon there will be no more kindy and she will be off to school. And then in no time at all she will turn around one day and say she doesn't need me to read to her in bed at night any more.

I have been wanting to cut up my vintage sheet stash for two years to make rainbow bunting. Until now, there had always been something else that I should be doing. But not this week. I had a sudden panic that if I did not make this bunting, right now, for this five year old party, that suddenly Liongirl would be fourteen and wanting a gothic themed event and my chance would be lost.

So like a woman possessed, I ignored the dishes and the laundry and the list of shoulds, and I chopped and ironed and stitched. So buzzed up that when I stepped on the pincushion in the above photo and  two large headed needles went into my foot, I just yanked them out and kept right on sewing. (note to self, do not keep needles in the pincushion, it is a health hazard).

So while the deck roof may be unpainted, we have fourteen metres of glorious rainbow vintage sheet bunting to distract us and remind me to snatch up every last golden childhood moment and savour it.

 I never understood when older wiser people told me that these years with young children would be the best in my life.

When you are dealing with severe and chronic sleep deprivation, food allergies, sensory issues and countless other struggles you raise your eyebrows and think "Really?" and "Far out, are you telling me it gets harder than this"? But, like a sudden slap in the head it has hit me, that even with the hard stuff, these years are golden, and magical and precious and filled with unconditional love. So, I intend to soak up every last drop.

Back soon with an under the sea mermaid party and the favourite of all the cakes I have made. And may all mothers go forth and ignore the shoulds to craft memories for their children. Remember, the days are long, but the years are short.


* ( all is not lost, while the bedtime stories may be gone, my boy now just wants me to lie down for a chat and a snuggle instead).

A perfectly pink Peppa Pig party

So, today we are all recovering from a sweltering hot day and a pink sugary high to top all others. The Peppa Pig party was a resounding success, and hopefully the amount of pink involved was satisfactory for Miss Liongirl. Surprisingly, it seemed that Peppa's eyeballs were the most coveted item on the cake, our deck did not collapse and seven little girls can bounce for an extraordinary length of time when they are being hosed on the trampoline.

Now before I share the party theming can I mention that my idea of a good party is one that involves maximal impact for minimal effort ( hence the excessive use of lurid lollies on the cake), and trying to pull it off using what we already have lying around the house. Luckily, I have a very large milk glass collection, and several pink vintage sheets, perfect for the goodies table. I even managed to use my wonderful punch bowl set, picked up from the oppie over a year ago for $10.

Peppa pig bunting was essential.

Miss Liongirl and I made it ourselves, using a carved potato stamp for the head to start from.

We also used these to decorate the party boxes which were a few dollars for a pack of eight.

And for the take home box, everyone got their own homemade Peppa biscuit. I managed to get the biscuit cutter on ebay and I will post the recipe shortly as they were scrumptious. (Of course, like everything I make they were a little wonky but I think that just shows they were made with love).

We made the most of our garden for a treasure hunt, pass the parcel and dragged a scraggly assortment of chairs and stools out on the lawn for a game of  musical  chairs ( which most of the kids had never heard of but thoroughly enjoyed, especially when our three legged stool kept tipping over for whoever sat on it).

After a good hosing on the trampoline, and long swings with mates on the tyre swing, the last stragglers were sent home and it was time to enjoy the prezzies. A gorgeous hand knitted Peppa from my mother in law, complete with a matching handbag.

And using this lovely girl's birthday gift mantra -

 something you want

something you need ( actually what small child "needs" anything other than love, cuddles, a warm bed and healthy food)  but I need her to stop pinching mine

something to wear

and something to read

And to sum up,

Of course in true Liongirl style, before the day had ended, she had already placed a request for a pool cake and a treehouse just like this one for her next birthday. Thank goodness I have a whole year to recover.

Navy IS the new black (and other futile arguments with three year olds)

See this lovely little vintage dress? This lovely navy dress? Apparently it is actually BLACK and that is why miss Liongirl has refused to wear it for the nine months it has been hanging in her wardrobe. In fact , she not only wrinkled her little button nose up in disgust when I pointed it out,  she was adamant that we should just get rid of it, because it is just too black.

I tried to educate her in the subtle differences in colour hues. It was an epic fail, and she remained adamant.  Nope, it was not navy, it was black. Definitely not dark blue either. Black, black, black and going, going going. So I did what any self respecting mother would do when faced with an irrational and deluded foe.

Bribery and corruption.  In the form of a pink lollipop.

If indeed this lovely dress was destined for the non wearable pile, then we were at least going to get a few pictures. So, I could raise this issue again, say at her 21st birthday. Or any time in future when she plans to wear black. Or navy.

It also explains why I had a little trouble getting her to wear that lovely new green dress that I lovingly sewed her last week. Because it has BLACK sleeves and trim. No wonder the guinea pinny pocket wasn't met with the rampant enthusiasm I was expecting.

Amazing what you can achieve with some sugar on a stick. Guinea has been upgraded to Sasha, the crochet pig who likes to ride in a front pouch. And despite that BLACK trim, the dress stayed on all day.

While we found a dead stick, and did some felt decorating.

With some of these gorgeous little felted mushrooms we picked up on a recent jaunt to Ipswich. There is a lovely little shop out there called Cultiver full of handmade goodies and we just had to pick up a little bag full of these, a brown paper bag of course. (The brown mushroom was the only one the kids would let me use in my giveaway bundle).

Speaking of giveaways, the official draw was finalised by the grubby paws of miss Liongirl late this afternoon, under the stern eye of Roboboy.

The winner of prize 1 (vintage sheet fat quarters) is Sammi.

The winner of prize 2 ( book & tray) is  Malea.

and the winner of prize 3 ( wallpaper and scraps) is

Yes, that is you Annie from Artistica Domestica!

So girls, contact me via email ( I have added up at the top right of the blog) and leave your details and addresses and I will post those goodies off pronto.

And welcome to some new followers and some lurkers who finally popped in to introduce themselves and say hello. For the rest of the gang who read my little blog, I have decided to do another vintage sheet giveaway soon but there will be a catch with this one......... Will keep you posted but probably around the New Year.

Giving Back

Thank you for all the lovely feedback on my first attempts at frocks. As I mentioned last post, after 200 posts,  now just over 200 followers and nearly two years of blogging, it was definitely time for a thank you in return.

 I started blogging as an attempt to re establish some creativity in a life consumed by a having a complicated child. I had no idea that noticing and recording the small things in my complicated world would have such an impact on how I felt about my life and especially my children. The unexpected icing on the cake was the connection to all those other mothers relishing their children, crafting themselves happy, renovating houses and appreciating the joy of vintage sheets. Thank you all for your kind words, advice and inspiration.

So without further ado, I would like to announce a little giveaway to share the goodies around, so to speak.  There are three parts to this giveaway, and you can enter for just one or all three. First up is a set of eight vintage sheet fat quarters in the brightest colours, the absolute favourites in my stash. This part of the giveaway is open to all Australian and New Zealand Bloggers.

Part two, includes some recent op shop treasures that I already have but were too lovely to leave behind. A gorgeous bessemer tray, an Enid Blyton novel and a tiny handmade mushroom (more about these later). This part is only open to Australian bloggers ( these are heavy, and international postage is scary).

 Part three is open to everyone, anywhere in the world. A selection of vintage wallpapers and a small bundle of vintage sheet scraps.

So, if you want to enter, just make sure you are a follower of my blog and leave me a comment on the post telling me if you are entering for parts 1, 2 or 3 or any combination. The giveaway will close this time next Monday.

If you are not into vintage sheets, wallpaper and Enid Blyton, I do apologise. I may have a selection of doors, windows, floorboards and a carport to  get rid of  offer you in the new year.

Disclaimer - the fat quarters may have some decidedly wonky edges, cutting fabric is not a precision sport for me.

Woohoo, I made a dress

Yep, sewed to completion. It is frankly, a complete miracle. I have been pfaffing around for months whilst having distinct problems committing to sewing anything. You know when you are so overwhelmed with tasks that must be done, that you just move piles of washing from one spot to another around the house and feel guilty even reading a magazine? There was tax to be sorted, house plans to be altered, boxes of baby clothes to be sold, a spare room to be cleaned out before visitors, work papers to read, walls to paint, and that is on top of the daily groundhog moments of washing and folding and cooking and I could go on but you all know what I mean. I could not even sit still long enough to focus on one task.

And then my 14 year old neighbour came and raided my fabric stash to up cycle her cut off denim shorts. And I had some kind of internal teenage rebellion and decided that if she could spend an entire day of the weekend attaching a tablecloth to her buttocks then I was indeed entitled to "waste" time making a dress. For my daughter, who in all likelihood may refuse to wear it.

In order to maximise the odds of this dress being worn, it was time to ramp up the pink factor. These two vintage sheets were both in perfect condition, with vivid colour and were very, very pink.  I ordered what looked like  a simple pattern from this lovely etsy store  ( it was the playdate peasant dress) and would you believe it took a total of three hours including cutting out. And, I have never even attempted anything with elastic  before. Hence the woohoo. Now while I should be doing all manner of important things, I am plotting my next version. At least my sanity sewing circle is back on tomorrow so I don't have to wait long.

And, she has worn it, with gusto, lots of times already. I do suspect she is hankering for some pockets, may have to add some the next time I need to stage a rebellion against  my household responsibilities.

At our place

there are some of the brightest of bright  vintage sheets that just turned up from my local oppie.

Winter blankies have been packed away.

This magazine has been pawed over by most members of the house. Roboboy is still begging me for it so that he can chop it up to make a picnic collage. Like me I suspect he was completely sucked in by the embossed cover.

He has started learning how to play chess in after school lessons. Here he is trying to teach his three year old sister the basic rules. It was all going well until she started galloping the horsey all over the board.

We have had a bit more luck with this one. An old vintage game from a garage sale where you have to collect rare animals to fill your own zoo.

And there has even been some cutting out of my own. I am determined to sew something to completion.

And there is a lot of gazing out of this window. Soon it will be the view from my lounge room and not the view from a nasty cupboard that contains my laundry in the middle of my lounge room.

It seems that after a few weeks holiday Legoman and I managed to resolve most of our disagreements about our renovation plans. He has finally come around to the idea of louvre windows, the kitchen is mostly sorted, the plans have been checked, there are chalk marks all over our deck and driveway so we are sure where the new bits are going and we have a couple of builders quoting on the working drawings as I type. And I didn't even need to send him to an oil rig as planned. Now it's off to an engineer and certifier while we go and find some more old floorboards, try and find the least ugly fan created, choose light fittings and order a marble slab for our kitchen bench.

Can you believe it has only been eight months since we started on the plans? Apparently sarcasm does not always translate well in a blog so I'll just spell it out. The only thing that tops the eight months of my stove now sounding like it is going to blast off into space whenever I have to bake anything, is my mum's comment recently that apparently the Feng Shui was all wrong for renovating this year. Great, so nice to discover that now. Apparently it is all good for 2013 though so as long as we don't start within the next  seven weeks we are all okay. Phew, crisis averted.

Beach goodies and white walls

There is nothing better than a good beachside op shop spree. Especially when there are vintage sheets involved, and peachy pink ones at that. As soon as they were washed, guess who snaffled them up for her bed?

In an effort to curb miss Liongirl's sampling of my lipsticks I bought her a pink chapstick that smells like watermelon. Unfortunately, it has been liberally applied to any set of lips in sight, if you look closely at the doll above you will see what I mean. In fact I was awoken this very morning pre dawn to the sensation of having my lippy applied before I had even opened my eyes. And by applied I mean something akin to the Joker from Batman.

Aside from sheets, there were a few other treasures. I love old tins and Australiana, could not believe my luck when I stumbled across this one for $1.50.

I'll share a few more things next post but I have been absolutely busting to show you my newest white wall. This is now the glorious view from my bathroom. Look back here for the custard version.

And the new home for the Golden Book collection, complete with a little seat to perch upon for a quick read. This little spot gets the best morning sunlight too.

And it's also perfect for testing out a new ensemble and some funky moves. This outfit was selected for going visiting, on a balmy summers day.

Like I've said before, I really hope she does not get her fashion sense from me.