Elsa's dream flags

For my niece Elsa's birthday I thought I'd get crafty and try a few handmade gifts that I've been wanting to try for a while.
Elsa's is a sweet girl and my first thought was to make something for her that would match with something I make for Rosie. Elsa may live in Perth but our family connection can still be strong through shared gifts and experiences so I made a pillowcase dress for each of them (see later post for more about these). I also made her a sun hat (more on these awesome babies later!) and finally something to hang in her bedroom - dream flags.
These are double-sides calico with an appliqued letter on each, sewn together with some homemade bias. I'm pretty happy with the result and an looking forward to making some of these for my girls too :-)

And here they are hanging in Elsa's room...

The Fairy Garden

Rosie's been having a lovely time in our new fairy garden. Rosie says 'I love it, and I'm really proud of Mummy for making it'. She's been secretly playing there with her new fairies (thanks Auntie Cath) under a canopy of creepers and behind the 'magic' doors. See photos for the full fairy fun.

Mount Buffalo Christmas Camping

This Christmas we ventured forth to Lake Catani on Mount Buffalo, Victoria, to camp with Ian's parents for four days. Lake Catani is special because its limited camping in a National Park, amongst unburnt Snow Gums (a rarity in Victoria after the fires in 2003 and 2006), but still has hot showers and clean toilets.

We took the camper trailer, our hammock, rockclimbing gear, Christmas decorations and a large Santa teddy, as well as general camping paraphernalia and of course the all-important gifts from under our tree.

Santa found us safe and well in the bush and Rosie received the 'Tangerine Boat' (see Alison Lester's book 'Magic Beach') she had been asking for since Winter. Luckily Santa visited us early and Rosie had the whole of our trip to paddle her boat on the lake.

Nana and Pop enjoyed walking the many tracks that lead from the campground, particularly the walk through Chalwell Galleries, which was more like caving at times. We also visited the Monolith, the Underground River and Mount McLeod.

On our walks we saw many wildflowers, including the Trigger Plant, which Pop showed Rosie how to trigger with a stick. This then became a pastime that stopped us many times as walked!

Ian also took Rosie rock climbing on a couple of short climbs.

Christmas Day was cooler but still Sunny and we had a nice Christmas lunch with hot veggies, tinned ham and pineapple and Christmad pudding and custard - we were spoiled campers!

Merry Christmas to all :-)

Solstice celebration slice

It's the longest day of the year, the day that the sine curve reaches its peak (for those mathematically-minded) and the day on which we looked forward to the next 12 months. We had a BBQ with friends, a swim in the river and wrote our wishes for the next year on recycled paper and released them into the river from the bridge. Symbolic? Yes. And fun too.
In celebration Rosie and I also made some special slice :-) yum, yum!

Here's the recipe if you're interested in a very unhealthy slice:

Melt 125g of butter with one can of condensed milk, 2 tbls golden syrup or sugar and half a block (at least 100g) of quality dark chocolate in a saucepan over low heat. Stir constantly or it will burn quickly. Keep stirring until the mixture thickens (about 8 mins or so), just like a caramel slice. Once thickened remove from the heat and mix in one packet of crushed sweet biscuits (I used Marie biscuits). Spread into a slice tin immediately and sprinkle the top with chocolate dots (I used white dots to spell the words on my slice but dark or milk dots work well as a top also). Leave the slice for five minutes and the dots will soften enough for you to spread them into clear words, or spread all over the top for chocolate icing. Place in fridge for at least 4 hours to set. Cut into small squares (it's rich stuff!).

Handmade Christmas

I've been excited about new handmade ideas for Christmas. This year I've attempted to make everything except a few chosen books and some jewellery for our girls, and Rosie's school uniform for next year (more about why that's a present soon). My handmade approach extended to new Christmas decorations, a wreath for the front door and of course presents for others. It's been a balance between creativity and the pressure to get things done by Christmas, but I've enjoyed the reason to be crafty and think I've done a pretty good job (especially with a new baby this year!).
Now, back to the school uniform... A very good friend described her approach to Christmas presents this year and I liked it so much that I adopted it too (thanks Curly!!). It comes from a poem:

Something you like
Something you need
Something to wear
Something to read

I like the rhyme and it made Christmas presents a shared experience. Rosie has chosen, in order:

A sewing box
Her school uniform for next year
A necklace
'Zog' by Axel Scheffler and Julia Donaldson

I like her choices and the process lead to some good discussion about wants and needs. I recommend it!

Comfy craft pockets

I worked on these a few weeks ago and had it mostly completed except for one pocket on which I wanted to stitch some of Rosie's artwork. That is now finally done and the pockets are complete.
So, back to the beginning... I've been hooked on Amanda Blake Soule's book 'Handmade Home' which I've had for a few weeks now. In her book she has a very similar design for hanging pockets which her children use to store anything they like. I thought it would be perfect to hang near our craft table which tends to gather all sorts of items from old artwork to books and toys and other paraphernalia. I took Amanda's idea of re-purposing fabrics and used an old woollen baby blanket for the backing - this gives it a weighty and solid feeling which I like. The pockets are simply pieces of colourful fabric I already had. It was simple and easy. The final pocket is made of calico with one of Rosie's drawing stitched on by me (this is my favourite pocket :-).
I took the girls for a walk a few weeks go to find a gum branch that had fallen from the tree and was straight enough to suspend the hanging pockets from. This was special because we used something from nature, and going to find it was a treat for Rosie (and me).
It has pride of place in our house.

From seeds to seedlings

I'm determined this Spring and Summer to grow my veggies from seeds myself, and to just grow a lot more of them than in past years. I want to produce enough so that we don't need to buy veggies, and in the future enough fruit so that we don't need to but that either. But overall the force driving me the most is the example that I'm setting for my girls, the learning that they are and will get from this and the happiness I can give them as we work together in the garden.
It's just such a lovely dream of mine to grow things together and it's a special time when we are creating our garden together.

Market sewing

This is market time of year, I guess in the lead-up to Christmas, and I have been part of a stall with some lovely ladies where we sell some of our sewing. For me, and I think for all of us involved, it's inspirational to get together and sew different things, to see what we are each into at the moment, and to compare sewing books and fabrics (and of course talk about our children and the garden and lots of other things).
We've done one already where I made some hanging garlands from felt (see photo - I'm not sure what to call them but they're lovely hanging in our house). And for the next market day I've been appliqué-ing shapes of nice fabric onto t-shirts. It's been fun and has me sewing - something I'm enjoying more and more :-).