This is...something I got, but still haven't used

This week's This is... theme, brought to you by the lovely Flossy-P, is something I got but still haven't used.

Well, I bought these colourful little ceramic pots at least six months ago, with visions of baking little individual puddings in them. I am a complete sucker for bright multi-coloured crockery, and I LOVE individual 'anythings' (think individual pies, tarts, you name it, I probably love it). So of course I couldn't resist them.

And yet here they are. Pristine, and as yet unused. I almost used them tonight, as I had thought of doing little self-saucing chocolate puddings in them for dessert (we are doing a big Sunday roast lamb dinner for the extended family). But my sister offered to make an apple and rhubarb crumble...and who in their right mind says no to that!!!

So in the cupboard they stay, for yet another day...

Bagged, Tagged, and Payin' it Forward

I love a good catch-up post, so here it is. Firstly, a couple bags I have finished recently.

One for a lady in my mother's group. Made with a lovely sturdy japanese cotton canvas from Kokka fabrics, as well as some vintage brushed wool fabric, and an upholstery sample. My poor machine jumped and groaned and spat lots of needles at me while making this one. I'm now on the lookout for a good walking foot industrial sewing machine...


And another one for the shop.


This one was a bit of a freestyle jobby, as I just made the pattern up as I went along. It took a pretty long time to put together, but I really enjoyed it, and am quite happy with the outcome. It reminds me a bit of a school uniform, hence the Malory Towers name (gotta love the depth and breadth of references you can get from Enid Blyton books, he he). This bag is actually made from 100% recycled and reclaimed fabrics. Vintage brushed wool on the outside, upholstery samples used on the strap and cuff (more jumping and needle spitting from my machine) and a really soft and lovely vintage flannelette pillowcase on the inside lining. Even the interfacing is recycled flannelette. Basically only the thread and magnetic snap are new, so I was pretty happy with that (yes I know, I should have had this bag finished before last week's recycling show and tell...oh well).

Now onto the tag. Dee from Words has tagged me so here goes. Don't worry, I'll keep it short and sweet!

a) What was I doing 10 years ago?

I'd just returned to Melbourne after living in Darwin for two years and got some casual work at Centrelink as a customer service officer. After working as a youth worker previously it seemed like luxury to have an office job where I could drink tea as I worked!

b) What are 5 things on my to-do list for today:

1. Go to my homeopath appointment
2. Upload a bag to Etsy
3. Go to the local Farmer's Market
4. Ring my aunty & my sister to organise tomorrow's outing
5. Do this blog update

c) Snacks I enjoy:

Green and Blacks organic milk chocolate, Jatz crackers with hommus, french toast with tomato sauce, toast with peanut butter and honey, pumpkin scones, homemade shortbread, crepes with lemon and sugar...oooh boy, the list could go on...

d) Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

Buy a huge acreage and build heaps of houses on it for all the extended family members. We would have an extended family commune, so to speak, and the family that don't want to live there can have holiday houses there. Matt and I have often discussed this and this would be our ideal set up. I know it sounds weird, but our family just really gets along, and we all really dig each other's company.

e) Places I have lived:

Nyah (WAY outback country Victoria), Melbourne, Darwin, Brisbane


So there ya go, lots of useless information about me. And this lovely sunset is what we saw out our front balcony a few nights ago. Isn't it lovely? Now onto the last thing.

I recently joined a Pay-It-Forward that Big Cat's Emporium was passing along. And now I'm looking for two more people to join in the fun. The way it works is that you sign up and some time in the next 365 days I will send you a surprise in the mail. In return you agree that you will pay the kindness forward to at least one other person (you can do more if you want to) in the 365 days after you join in. It's a fun idea, and sure to put lots of good crafty karma out there. So if you want to be one of the two people to receive some goodies from me, leave a comment and let me know.

**EDITED TO ADD, I NOW HAVE THREE PAY IT FORWARD TAKERS - THANK-YOU TO Curly Pops, Button Beauty and Ingrid's Sewing and Craft!!**

Gone fishin'....

This is what Lee and I did during Kate's nap today.


We made some water, some fish, an octopus and some starfish. We then put paperclips on everything and went fishing...with cranes, as you do. I didn't have any spare little magnets around to make fishing rods out of, so I figured Lee's two Cranky Cranes would like to do a spot of fishing.


Apparently they both enjoyed it!


I feel so behind on blogging. I've got bags, poems, tags, knitting, pay it forwards, and probably other things I'll remember later, all of which are yet to be blogged. Just feeling a bit swamped at the moment. But I'll get to it all. I will. Really...

This is...my way of recycling

Thanks to Angela's mum for this week's this is... theme.

We recycle a lot. I could show you some very unattractive boxes of paper, plastic and glass waiting to be taken out to the recycle bin. I could show you a ridiculously messy bookcase full of things saved for kid craft (think paper scraps, cotton reels, cardboard tubes and fabric scraps). I could even show you the lovely black hose we plug into the washing machine to drain the water onto the garden, although this has currently been chewed by the dog and brittled (is that a word??) by the sun, and is in dire need of replacement.

But you know, sometimes recycling can be a bit ugly. And I do try to keep this blog space...well...un-ugly (surely this one is a word?...).

So here is my pretty, sanitised, 'tv-world' version of my recycling.


First, my latest recycling project - bookmarks made from vintage sheets, pillowcases and buttons. Having lots of fun making these. Lovely and tactile to touch, and the button stops them slipping down into the book (a pet hate of mine, and one which sometimes leads me to 'dog-earing' (ok, I'm sure this one must be a word...right?) my books - which in turn is a pet hate of my husband's.

Like most crafters/sewers, I guess I do a lot of fabric recycling. All the bags I make are at least 33% recycled. Some are even 100% recycled if you include fabric scraps and remnants found in Op Shops, and exclude new sewing thread. Of course, when I first started making bags, I pretty much only used recycled fabrics. Here are some of the earliest bags I made, mostly from things which were once other things...:


1. I used to be a tablecloth, 2. I used to be a cushion cover, 3. I was a pilowcase and unwanted fabric scraps, 4. I was once an ugly dress, 5. I used to be an ironing board cover, 6. I used to be a tablecloth, 7. I used to be a pillowcase, 8. I used to be Grandma's tablecloth

For a little tour of recycled things I have blogged about previously, check out:

Mixy-Matchy napkins from bed sheets, pillowcases, and vintage fabric scraps
Hippy pants made from a bed sheet
Girly smock made from a bed sheet
Apron made from a bed sheet
Christmas wreath made from fabric scraps

Monday's Verse

THE NIGHT HAS A THOUSAND EYES
.....By Francis William Bourdillon, 1852-1921

The night has a thousand eyes,
And the day but one;
Yet the light of the bright world dies
With the dying sun.

The mind has a thousand eyes,
And the heart but one;
Yet the light of a whole life dies
When love is done.

I love this poem. Haven't we all thought of a million reasons to not do something, only to have our heart tell us the opposite? And which do we listen to? After reading this many many years ago, I always make sure I tell my head to shut up....

This is...Mother's Day

This is...what we did for Mother's Day. We had a lovely big family day with the extended family, which included five mothers and one mother-to-be, a nearly four-year-old, two nearly two-year-olds, a six week old, and two works-in-progress!!

It was lovely. We found a quiet park,


and had it all to ourselves!

We drank sparkly wine. We feasted on homemade finger food including egg and bacon pies, roast vegetable sandwhiches, crumbed chicken,


scotch eggs mmmmmmm,

mini banana loaves, oaty chocolate and almond cookies, and...



the best chocolate caramel slice I've eaten in years (thanks Jade).

We also filled the afternoon in with frisbees, football,


boule (...ahem...I do believe Dad and I were the champions!!)

and knitting. Could there be a better way to spend a Mother's Day? I think not.

And whose idea was this fantastic day?

My mums! As usual Mum, you always come through with the goods. Thanks for being such an inspiration to me.

XXXXXXXX

I'll leave you with the Mother's Day cards my kids made for my Mum and my Aunty (who is really like a third Grandma to them). They are all pictures made from a fantastic book called Hand Art (KLUTZ - Chicken Socks) where each page shows the child how to hold their hand (shadow puppet style) so that you can draw around it, and then you turn it into an animal. It is perfect for Lee's age group. He works out how to hold his hand, then I draw around it and put in the details, then he colours it in as per the picture, and glues on the eyes etc. This book has kept us all so well occupied over the last week, and our house is filled with creatures from Aliens and Elephants to Peacocks and Frogs. My lovely mum also bought Lee the Superhero Starter Kit in this series yesterday, and it is also really great. Not a big price tag either which is nice. Whew, that turned into a mini-book review for kids didn't it! Oh well, it's a mother's prerogative to waffle on isn't it??????

Kate's Art


Chicken


Octopus

Lee's Art

Butterfly


Cat

Gifts, Gifts, Gifts!!!!!

Happy mail day today! First parcel from the postman included these gorgeous Babushka softies from Adds (The Humming Cat) which were part of the EB Softie swap. Thanks so much Adds, they are really gorgeous and so well made. Kate already has one sleeping in her doll's cot.

The second parcel was from the very lovely Florence (Flossie Teacakes), as I was one of the lucky winners of her dishcloth giveaway, and it included a pack of delicious dishcloths, and a sweet little cylinder filled with mini-sparklers, for the kids.


I think that our Customs officers must have felt the cylinder to be a little suspicious, as they had opened the package to check through it. I must admit though, I was quite impressed with the way they re-wrapped the present quite nicely. Thank-you so much Florence - it was such a lovely package.


Even Matt thought the cloths were pretty cool - especially as they were excellent for wiping down our induction cooktop (and he's quite anal about the keeping this shiny black reflective surface gleaming at all times!!)

And on the subject of gifts, I have not only been the receiver of gifts lately, I have also been doing some giving myself.


Yesterday was Mum's birthday, and my sister and I got her an iPod. So of course I had to also knit her an iPod holder. This is a great example of my terrible knitting skills, and I really didn't know what I was doing - but I am actually quite drawn to the idea of a slick, perfect, cutting edge piece of technology being housed in something rustic, imperfect and a bit old-fashioned. I guess I find it somewhat amusing!


I also recently gave this baby quilt/playmat to my sister for her new baby Jett. In fact, it was a few weeks ago that I finished it, but I forgot to take a photo before I gave it to her. So here it is.


Another imperfect object, but made with love, and also with gorgeous japanese fabric purchased from Retro Mummy (Little French Kids fabric on the front and Wizard of Oz, and Gingerbread Man on the back). I have actually also given my mum another bag lately, but again I forgot to take a photo of it before I gave it to her. So I will get around to it...sometime...but until then.....yay for gifts!!!!