Two weeks of sunshine and colour

As the Christmas break beckons, the end of kindy is finally wrapped up and all I can see is so much seasonal colour all around. The summer sun beats down and all the world is more vibrant. My fox pillow, finished just in time for Liongirl's birthday.

Colourful gifts lovingly unpacked from  the kindy bag.

Oh how I love kindy art work, although that black background did throw me as the only other black thing in this house is the TV.

Shafts of rainbow light striking perfectly placed milk glass.

Rainbow bunting glowing in the morning sun and when the poincianas are in flower, Christmas is just around the corner.

Striking pink peonies thankfully still in season in December, weeks after the wedding anniversary we both forgot.

All that remains of the poor ravaged piñata.

The treasure we will be mowing up for months or even years.

Stumbling across happy play scenes in Liongirl's room.

 Gorgeous bowls for the kindy teachers, to be filled with chocolates and wrapped in cellophane.

One of them could possibly turn up in my Santa sack, no guessing which colour.

More kindy Christmas craft, even more spectacular than the first.

I think this self portrait needs a frame, it certainly won't be used for drying the dishes.

And lastly it appear that the mermaid grotto has a squatter. This cheeky possum had sauntered in one evening through the open deck doors and had no doubt been sniffing around for treats.

Now we can bring on Christmas, I'm almost ready.

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).

Resting up

This week for me has meant hours and hours and hours with my leg elevated up in bed. Lets just say it has been quite an adjustment for everyone. The kids have just brought all their meals, books and games  in to my bed to keep me company. They  also brought  a good share of dirty feet, crumbs and whinges  in here too.

The kitchen company finally reappeared ( six weeks after we moved home) with the range hood box cover to be installed. They seemed to have completely forgotten about the two missing drawers that have still not reappeared and left with vague mutterings of coming back with the rest next week. Now I have heard that before, say about six times, so we'll see.

Still, even a little progress is exciting when there is not much else going on. There is still shelving to be installed above the window and a final coat of paint but it is slowly getting there.

In the meantime I have been distracting myself from the state of the house with well placed floral arrangements from my mum. I call this one "Still life with gladioli and yellow painting trestle".

I made a start on some crochet  triangle bunting, which I plan to embellish with  some daisies from a  Mollie Makes pattern.

I finished the hand sewing for my foxy pillow and  am itching to be able to sit up at the sewing machine, but am trying very hard to be patient.

The kids have been busy too. An animal research station (heavily inspired by the Octopod) from the boy. Each animal has its own habitat and food supply. Always sensible when you have carnivores in the mix.

 A camera from my kindy girl ( she'll be wanting her own blog next).

And is that bunting I spy in a new drawing? I did have grand plans to sew some before a certain five year old birthday, in only a few weeks. This time of year everything seems to speed up, meanwhile I'm just here snailing my way along, writing long lists and trying not to get panicky.

Finally after eight days, I can actually walk without it being a major problem. This week I have realised how grateful I am for my legs. While they are not long or slender, and neither are my feet I might add, they generally do their job very well of getting me around and about, on my bike, or a scooter, up ladders painting and bouncing around on the trampoline with my kids. I had been a bit dismissive of these  good, sensible, reliable friends and I will never take them for granted again.

It's good to be home

We have been home for nearly six weeks now and in between all the drama we do feel like we are settling in. Most importantly, the milk glass has all been unpacked and one quiet morning  Liongirl appeared with this trio of floral displays she had  arranged by herself.

There is an abundance of gorgeous spring sunshine and the jacarandas are in full bloom.

Every window at the front of the house has a view like this.

The gnarled old frangipani tree is sprouting it's new green summer canopy.

The sewing room is a half unpacked messy disaster. But we did solve the problem of no table. I had a brainwave to salvage one of the old laundry doors ( from the infamous laundry in a cupboard in the lounge room) and whack it on top of some trestle legs we have had for years. Voila, a huge smooth expanse of table for cutting/stitching and garden window gazing.

While the vintage sheets are yet to be found and colour coded by Roboboy, I did manage to start a little something for my fox obsessed girl.

Who spends her days dressed like a walking rainbow.

There have been tulips from my mum (with leg healing powers).

Even the boy mess looks better on those shiny, shiny floors.

 And there is no better goodness than kindy creations made with love. Eastern long necked turtle of course.

It's good to be home.

After six months of renovating posts I am struggling a little to get back into my usual blogging groove. I had naively thought that blogging about the house renovation would be fun and exciting. While it was both of those things it was also stressful, dull and almost became a chore near the end.

In recent months I also made the discovery that my once small, somewhat private blog was now being read by my neighbours, extended family and the school principal. Yikes. Sharing with strangers in other parts of the world who have a common love for vintage pyrex/sheets/wallpaper/house renovations is quite different to people on the fringes of your real life suddenly seeing inside.

This space, which was always intended to be a creative outlet and place to connect with other like minded souls, suddenly felt intimidating. In real life I am shy, private and  frequently overwhelmed by the demands of mothering a complicated child.  In my blog I like  to be brave, colourful, positive and have gratitude for all the small moments in life that are joyful.

So, after contemplating ending this little space, I think instead there will just be a shift. Back to colour, craft, and sharing what makes me happy (for goodness sakes it's about time for some op shop finds). And mostly, remembering that this is my happy place, and that is all that matters.

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.

The green dancing girl dress

I've got the bug. The sewing bug that is. The rush you get ferreting through a stash of fabric, drawers of doilies and the sublime beauty of pink ric rac. Liongirl and I went to Spotlight  just to get the 6 mm elastic. And then I stumbled over this gorgeous green dancing girl fabric and she found the roll of sparkly pink bling ribbon and the next thing you know were were in cahoots, making another dress.

The navy blue floral fabric has a story of course. About a year ago at my first ever Suitcase Rummage the lovely Kimberley had a bundle of fabric from an estate sale. The story goes that the elderly lady who owned this fabric had brought trunks and trunks of beautiful fabric with her on a steamer from England many many years before she ended up in a house on Bribie Island. And now some of this lovely old fabric which had been carefully folded for decades has been lovingly added to a little girl's green dancing girl dress.

I myself could have left off the pink bling. But in order to get miss Liongirl to contemplate a dress that is not pink, we had to have some incentives. And she loves her bling. The pocket was essential for her travelling companion, Guinea Pinny, her toy stuffed guinea pig rescued from a $1 claw machine. Fingers crossed she will frock up tomorrow and let me take some photos.

I discovered the The Cupcake Parlour at West End the other day, and had to take a little assortment to share with the sewing gals. There is nothing more wonderful that chatting over a cuppa, a petite cupcake and some crafty creating with like minded pals. Especially when you put your bobbin in backwards and need help sorting out why everything you are stitching is self ruffling when it is meant to be flat.

And what were the kids doing today, while I finished adding the bling to the dress?  Well, first they colour coded my buttons,

then Roboboy colour coded all my pin wheels so they were in a rainbow formation. Then they watched The Little Mermaid. I had to share the look on my boys face watching the romance scene in the movie when the prince is working up to kissing Ariel in the boat.

Sheer unadulterated joy. You would never guess that only hours before this same child approached me in the bathroom  with a proposal. To sell his sister. (He was quite serious). I in turn grappled for a satisfactory response for his logical brain. I informed him that unfortunately as they were a pigeon pair, they sadly could only be sold as a set. He was disappointed but understood completely.

I wanted to say thank you to Kate from Foxs Lane for inspiring me to make the green dancing girl dress. About a year ago I bought a miss Liongirl a peasant dress from Kate and have been building up the courage to sew my own ever since. And fitting that I finally get it together for this slightly auspicious day of my 200th post. Back soon with a little giveaway to celebrate this bloggy milestone.