Found it!

It was going to be a young lady's summer dress.

But as I was about to cut it I had a "bingo!" moment.

Good-bye purple and hello pink.

I love it. Just need to make the time to get it all together.

Showed the daughters - squeals of delight from one and a half smile and a shrug from the other. Yep, it's the half smile's quilt.

Holiday Monsters

Read into that what you will .....It's a wet and miserable day here so we found a way to keep holiday monsters entertained....


Rumage through the fabric scrap stash & pick what you want.
Cut them as you want and sew them together (yes, I let them loose on the Janome. They were VERY excited!)
Add your monster face and trace out your monster shape on the back. Sew it to your chosen backing fabric (with a bit of help) Cut around your monster shapeClip and turn (and use chop sticks as weapons)Go a bit crazy with the stuffing (our house is very fluffy at the moment)Stitch up the hole. This was the big boy's first go with a needle and thread. He has is own style and was happy.A successful holiday afternoon (ie no sibling bickering for 3 whole hours - unbelievable!)Now to clean up the mess - they're watching Star Wars with their monsters.
Hope your holidays are great.
Jenny

Ballerinas

Ok, this has nothing to do with Ohjoh stuff, crafty stuff or quilty stuff but my youngest makes me smile (when I'm not pulling my hair out and reaching for the cooking chocolate!- a daytime wine substitute)

Today we're off to her first real ballet lesson (following big sister who is obsessed with it).

Today she's excited! Dressed and ready hours in advance, giving me instructions on which family members should receive emailed photo's of her as "a ballet" (not a ballerina because she just wants to be "a ballet" - apparently).

She's ballet skipping up the hallway which is an improvement on her trial class last week which involved lots of hiding, crying and Mum dancing with the pre-school kids in the class (very disturbing for all as "grace and poise" are NOT generally words used to describe me!) until she warmed to the idea for the last 20 minutes).

I'll do some stretches shortly before we go just in case I have to try and do 1st position again!

Kiddie Craft

It's wet here but not as wet as Queensland! - thinking of you guys and sending you our money and wishing there was something else we could do to help.

I spent the kid's inheritance on school shoes this morning so it's (expense free) inside time at home today.My awesome sister gave this little beauty to Miss Number 2 at Christmas so we christened it today. Great little book - thoroughly recommend it.

We now have beautiful "tissue paper blooms" hanging from the light fittings - they look like orange chrysanthemums (yes, I had to resort to the reliable "Concise Oxford Dictionary" for that one). Hope you and yours are safe and dry.

Bribery & corruption .....

Yesterday I tortured my kids and made them do this:

So this arvo they're playing Wii and we're having take away for tea.

Yep, bribery.

Getting Festive....

3 kids + 1 hole punch + a couple of pairs of scissors + coloured paper + a piece of string

equals

Lots of mess (or if you're a kid, lots of confetti that is still following me around the house)

and

a really pretty snowflake garland (which is not that relevant to a Christmas in Australia as it is currently hovering around 30 degrees C - and my kids have never even seen snow!) but all are happy!

When your little bloke asks for an ipod ....

Probably not what he expected ..... but as close as he's going to get for a while.

Holiday activity bags all finished waiting for the journey.

Bring on the sunshine and the warmth !!!!

Now what's next on the pre-holiday list .....

See you all soon - hopefully relaxed, warm and smiling!

Cheers

Jenny

When you want summer ....

All you have to do is pop on the sunnies,

get mum to whip up a new summer frock,

head outside,

hope for a little sunshine to peep through the grey winter clouds

and BINGO it's summer! (and the 4 yr old is happy)

Handmade vs Barbie .....

My smallest Miss (Miss 3) turned 4 on the weekend (aah how time flies ...). Now that I've finished the enormous pile of aprons, I managed to squeeze out some handmade goodies for her birthday.

I have to admit that I think I have issues with instructions .... reading one thing and for no apparent reason doing something completely different - is that a "Poh moment" ?

The book cover pattern I found at Kirsty's. It's straight forward & fabulous, but I still managed to botch it up at step 2 - cutting it out - so had to tweek it a tad and swear a little.

I managed to cut out the Teapot from Jodie's (RicRac) lovely pattern but, again, managed to read one thing and have my head and hands do another, so had to tweek that a little too and swear a little more. Despite finishing it at 1.30am (hence no teacups!) it is still holding up after a couple of days of tea making.

Miss 2 insisted that a(nother!) Barbie also be included in the birthday mix. After some introductions to the rest of the plastic, physically challenged (how can boobs that size stand on feet that small? and who really has a waist like that ?) Barbie clan it was nice to note that the handmade goodies have been given equal billing.

Time for another "pretend" cuppa (all the joy without the bloating sensation that is consecutive cups of tea) ...

A few little presents

Inspired by Andi's handmade gifts here at PatchAndi, these ones were made by me for a lovely mummy and her little helper.

Happy Birthday Girls!

Kennel Makeover .... (& Market Rundown)

Chalk, water, dog kennel ....

A crescendo of colour (yes, I had to check the dictionary for that one...)

Does Jezza, our ever patient little friend, approve?

Had the Mulgrave Farmers Market this morning - great weather, happy people and yummy food.



The best bit, other than spending the day with my lovely sister who came for the ride, was that my stall was next to Pam from Greensacks. Laughed and talked the entire morning - got to love that woman! And that product! Check them out they're brilliant - and you can buy them online too ... go on you know you want them !! (helps the planet too .....)

Made these little skirts and sold them all! Got to love that. Didn't even get a chance to pop them on either etsy or madeit. Will have to make some more.

Hope you've all enjoyed your weekend.


Cheers
Jenny

PS think I might do my first ever giveway for post number 20 .......hmmm.... this is number 19 ... watch this space ........