Happy

Wishing you a happy time, whatever you're doing, wherever you are.

xo

the last few weeks

Some of my favourite bits from our last few weeks...



making special and yummy smelling presents for special teachers and friends...



having the loveliest end-of-year mum-and-child yoga class, with presents exchanged, lots of hugs and two gorgeous little yoga friends holding hands as they left...



spending time with some really lovely people - work friends, blog friends, family friends...



enjoying the continuing evolution of our little hessian tree - now decorated in thrifted fuzzy felt pieces (though Lena our cat loves the challenge of pulling off decorations as quickly as they go up)...



decorating with op-shopped k'nex pieces...



and stockings made from inherited crocheted and knitted pieces (some finished but unusable, some unfinished)...



receiving some "just-right" early presents (thank you!)...



and a giveaway prize from a wonderful person (sorry it has taken me so long to say thank you, Mel!)...

I hope your days are being filled with favourite bits too! x

My slightly Christmassy place

I prefer not to make a big fuss about Christmas - I don't like the pressure, the costs, the rush... so Christmas tends to creep up quietly in our house...

or should I say, tended... because now, a four year old speaks regularly and excitedly about trees and fairy lights and Santa (as long as she doesn't have to meet him!) and baubles (Mum, why don't we have any more baubles? We need more baubles!).

Swept along by her enthusiasm, I'm actually starting to get Christmassy - albeit in a low pressure, low cost, slow kind of way.

So far, we have started on a "tree" of sorts, carrying on with our tradition of making a tree from stuff around the house, and of not actually finishing it right away (though given that our cat thinks this is a toy, it is unlikely to ever be exactly "finished"). Next, maybe some fairy lights?

I'm linking up with Vic's My Place and Yours Christmas special (by the way, her tree is fabulous!), and also wanted to mention Sarah's post about traditions, as this has inspired me this week too.

my place and yours - where I sleep

When Vic announced this week's MPAY theme, it seemed the perfect time for me to finally join in - this blog's been a little sleepy of late!

Our bedroom is not so photogenic right now, so I was not sure what I could share, until I woke up from a nap on the couch...

I'm not normally a couch-napper, but have found myself falling asleep here a bit lately.

As of yesterday, though, this couch has a new resident, an outstandingly good sleeper - our adored adopted shelter cat!

Find more my place and yours places here, and check in with Vic on Saturday to find next week's theme.

morris hoped against hope for a cup party invite...

Hope you're having a good day today!

snatching snippets

Recently, I have felt that life has been moving too fast and in too many directions for me to catch up... that no matter how hard I try and how much I want to, I just can't stay "on top" of things.

Finally, I've decided to try something different for a while... well, actually, to stop trying so hard.

To lower the bar a little and let things go, to spend some time working out what matters and what doesn't. For me, being creative does matter, and I know I need to give myself more time and energy to be creative and do creative things.

In the mean time, here are a few "snippets" of creativity that have emerged from our home in the last few weeks...

I've enjoyed snatching moments to hook (at times veering into obsessive hooking, just as Nicole said I would), enjoying the rhythm of repeating trebles as I make a scarf that will probably be ready in mid summer...

Mum and girl collaborations have continued...

muslin baby wrap, decorated with fabric markers

but have possibly been outshone by this amazing dad and girl collaboration

WALL-E in Lego, cute, hey?

My favourite creative moment of the week was watching our amazing 4 year old act out the life cycle of a fly...(possibly the first and only time in my life that I will think kindly of maggots)

For creative spaces of all kinds (probably not involving maggots), pop over here.

walking the walk

This weekend, I spent a good few hours walking - joining some workmates in a local "Relay for Life," a fundraiser for The Cancer Council.

At the end, we stretched, and celebrated our fundraising achievements... but as I drove home, I started feeling frustrated that we should have to hold fundraisers like this for crucial services that don't get the government funding they need.

This quote popped into my head... (we had this tea towel when I was growing up!)

Or, relating to some recent announcements:

"it will be a great day when our healthcare services get all the money they need, and the MCG has to hold a cake stall to refurbish the Great Southern Stand"

(OK, not so catchy, but hopefully you get my point...).

My guess is, most of you will already have heard about Cam's Call for Help, and maybe have already written to those in power to ask them to overturn The Alfred Hospital's decision to reduce lung transplants in coming weeks... but if you haven't, please do (you can click on the picture below to travel to her website).

Thank you, and I hope you're having a lovely weekend.

itchy stitchy

Today, she announced that she felt "itchy stitchy"...

you know, that feeling you get when all you want to do is stitch...

and stitch...

and stitch...

Isn't it a wonderful feeling when you get to do just what you like for a while? I hope you got that chance today too.

P.S. - we used nylon netting as the " invisible fabric" (when I couldn't find the hessian I know I have somewhere...), and a yarn needle. Super easy and fun!

a new language

After a few hours spent on the lawn on a sunny Sunday with some of my favourite work friends, I am finally learning to talk in crochet...

I can't yet talk AND crochet, but have learned that I can crochet passably with one eye closed (which is lucky, given the state of my left eye!).

Hope you are having a lovely day!

mended

After the fun of mending her jeans, I turned to my own... and wondered why we both get holes on the same knee (the right one).


I have vague memories of wearing jeans patched from the inside, and how uncomfortable they were, so I went for an "outside patch" too, and then had some fun with wonky stitching.


Now I have a built-in reminder to check the mending pile more often...

every girl needs a shed

Years ago, we bought this plastic (and more expensive than it looks) outdoor shed / cupboard thing in an attempt to deal with our storage woes.

The problem was, it was not as weatherproof as we'd have liked, and was a bit of a pain to use... so when we started doing some cleaning and clearing out lately, we came close to chucking the thing...

but when it was empty and open, it suddenly turned into a "house"...

a bit of cleaning, a bit of a blackboard and (ahem) a bit of plastic bag bunting later, it is now a fun and happy cubby, and part of our backyard in progress.

(we are loving the bonus "pink snow" too... but will need to clean it up soon!)

my creative space

Gif make

Sometimes the little projects are the most fun - especially for a scaredy cat like me who experiences anxiety when cutting into lovely big bits of fabric.

This week I took a scrap of fancy fabric (from the scraps box at Patchwork on Central Park), and patched up some holey, worn-out jeans...

and when that was a success, I grabbed a pair of too-short jeans, and added some Yardage Design gorgeousness to the bottom (OK, I admit I did have some anxiety cutting into this fabric, but managed to remind myself that gorgeous fabric is better out on display (even when it gets mud splattered) than hiding in a box!).

For more creative spaces ...

I'm not sure what I was supposed to do today...

(and I still have a vague, unsettling feeling that there was something I was supposed to do...)

But I did...


... eat the last of our yummy "Cathie Cookies" (Fruity Oat Cookies, to be precise), one of the amazing recipes from Cathie's blog...


... play our girl's new invented game - "Backy Books" (basically you grab all your Golden Books, turn them over so you can only see their backs, and then pick and read a book without knowing what it will be)...


... and turn three old cloth nappies into a dressing gown, because I felt like doing some of my favourite kind of sewing (using old stuff, so there's nothing to lose, and making it up as I go along).



Hope you've had a fun Sunday too!

taking a walk

Inspired by Vic, we took a walk last weekend... not very far from home, and not for long (taking 4yr old sized "paces" doesn't get you very far...)

Walking the streets around our home, wearing matching green "detective" jackets and carrying a magnifying glass (her) and big camera (me), we got some strange looks - but had a lot of fun!

(See Vic's post for full instructions if you'd like to join in too)

1. Starting point;


2. 50 paces;



3. Walk until you find something blue;



4. Left turn and walk 50 paces;


5. Walk until you see something that is or looks like 7 or 11;


6. Take the first left, walk until you find somewhere to sit;


7. Walk any direction 25 paces;


8. Walk until see unusual colour, shape, texture;


9. Walk until you see an archway or unusual architectural feature (because we were at that stage being regarded with suspicion by home owners, we couldn't photograph homes... so we decided that lichen is an interesting kind of "natural architecture"... yep, cop-out, I know!)


10. Head for home, looking for something that catches your eye...


Thanks, Vic - I think we might do this again sometime!

flea market finds - smokin'

(a cautionary tale...)

I bought this gorgeous 70's Singer Sewing machine a couple of months ago at a church fete... it had one of those "not tested for electrical safety" stickers on it, but the nice man said that they do try out the electrical items and only sell ones that work, and it was really cheap...

I was so excited, but a bit nervous to try her out, because I really wanted her to work... so she sat safely in a corner of my room while I waited for a quiet time to test her out.

That time came a week ago - I cleared the dining table, found some fabric and thread, followed the threading info I'd downloaded, and plugged her in.

And she worked - with a lovely gentle purr... but the tension wasn't quite right, so I did a few more test runs...

and then she clunked...

and then I noticed smoke rising up from her base...

and then I quickly unplugged her and carried her outside before she burned the house down...

and now I'm trying to work out how to safely "retire" her, without anyone else risking electrical fire... any ideas?

For (probably safer) finds, visit Sophie.