Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Here come the cousins!

They came, they played, they went home exhausted! There hasn't been much crafting going on around here. This is why!
My adorable nephews came for a visit over the weekend, much to the delight of Romily, who adores them, and Tristan, who thrives on the excitement of so many kids to play with. My brother and my sister-in-law drove up from Melbourne on Friday and did it in reverse yesterday. A long way to come for the weekend, but three days was more than enough for my over-excited four-year-old!

They had so much fun, but not quite enough sleep. Rom slept in her swap on her bedroom floor while the twins top and tailed in her bed. They had the funniest conversations when they should have been sleeping. Darcy and Cody are four weeks younger than Romily, and it's quite funny to watch her try to boss them around (she gets that from me) and them just ignore her! Sounds like typical female-male relations to me!
The older two, Zach and Sam, were so good with all the little ones. Rom and Sam have a special relationship and they are just adorable together. It was really great seeing Jacinta and Jim with their tribe - we don't get a lot of chat time when we visit them in Melbourne, as we're usually too busy making sure the kids don't get into too much trouble to talk properly. This time we were able to have a good chinwag after the kids were in bed.
With five of the six cousins celebrating birthdays within a month of each other, we had another cake to celebrate. We sang happy birthday to 'everybody' and all of the kids helped blow out the candles (except Tristan who was asleep in his cot already!).We headed out to some of Romily's favourite places in Canberra, including Questacon (a science and maths discovery place for kids) and Cockington Green (Miniature villages and a miniature steam train). The kids had a blast at both places, although they really wore themselves out!Jacinta and I did do a little bit of crafting - Zach and Sam are dressing up as 'Where's Wally' for book week in September. We were raw-edge appliqueing red felt stripes onto white skivvies. They will look adorable in matching red and white striped beanies being knitted by their 'other' grandmother (i.e. not my mum but Jacinta's mum). Also, I finished another two drawstring bags the night before the cousins arrived. One for Darcy and one for Cody, stuffed with a cute t-shirt and shorts outfit each (matching, but different colours) and a cute first reader book for each of them.Romily was bereft upon the cousins' departure and spent a good hour sobbing and wailing. Every time I looked at her she burst into tears again! She loves her cousins and I wish we could live closer so that they could see more of each other.

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Things will be a little quiet around here over the next few weeks. I have a paper due on Sunday and then we're off to Sydney for the week for a little bit of a family holiday. I'm going to take some handwork with me, but depending on how exhausted I am, may not get much done! Looking forward to some more crafting soon.

Monday, August 10, 2009

Canberra Quilt Show

After a crazy week of baking and organising and a day of recovery from Romily's party, I took off for a couple of hours on Sunday afternoon and headed to the Canberra Craft and Quilting Fair. The Canberra Quilters annual exhibition is always good, so I was pleased to make it there - without children distracting me!

While there were a lot of traditional quilts there, I find it's the picture quilts that really draw my eye. Here are some of my favourites from the show.
Jenny Bowker Sandstorm over the White Desert

More unbelievably brilliant work from Jenny Bowker, currently resident in Egypt. I don't know why this quilt wasn't entered for best of show - she won last year with a similar entry. Also exquisite.

Beth Miller Grass Trees

Beth Miller A Touch of Green

Pat Godden Panda Reflections

Natsuko Miyake Life is like an instant dream

Check out the gauze over the base layer, with applique and embroidered details over the top. This was an excellent way to give this very interesting quilt a lot of texture. I really liked the design and technique, although I wasn't wild about the colours.

Jocelyne Leath A Moment in Time

The castle you can see is entirely quilted. You have to see it to believe it!

Jocelyn Green Oak Park - The windows of Frank Lloyd Wright

Helen Godden La Luna Feminingo

Naomi Miyake Happy Magic - Best of show (entirely hand quilted!)

There were also some excellent 'best of show' quilts from other state shows on display. Here are my faves.
Adriana Gismondi Encyclopaedia of Australian Birds (Quilt West Best of Show)

Elizabeth Camping Japanese Treasure Bag - SA best of show

I bought some gorgeous FQs from the trade hall. Will load a pic in the next post. No sewing going on here. We have a sick bubba - Tristan now has croup. Will this winter never end? Eventually!

Saturday, August 08, 2009

All partied out

'All partied out' used to mean I'd been out dancing too late. These days it means that after running a party for eight four-year-olds for two hours, I'm absolutely exhausted! And that was with the brilliant help of my husband. What a great team.

I don't think the following pictures need any explanation. The end result was a very happy four year old, which is what makes all that hard work worthwhile (and I have a whole new appreciation of what my mum did for me all those years ago!).I made the party bags. They're from the Prints Charming Rainbow Garden range. Pink for girls and blue for boys. I don't usually go in for the whole colour stereotyping thing, but the fabrics were so gorgeous I actually didn't mind too much!

I'll blog a tutorial once I get some sleep. Carl, Tristan and I have all come down with the cold Romily brought home with her last week. We're stuffed! I'm looking forward to some warmer weather and fewer viruses!

Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Guess who is four?

My gorgeous Romily.Happy birthday to my darling, funny girl.
xxx

Saturday, August 01, 2009

Stars in her eyes

In addition to starting new dance classes, Romily has also started going to a six-hour session at playschool on Fridays. As they're there for so long, the kids have a 'rest time' after lunch. They have to take a little cushion along to lay their heads on while they're having a rest. While we almost certainly had something suitable here, I decided it was the perfect opportunity to procrastinate from study...er, I mean do something crafty, so I dipped into my stash and whipped up a cute little patchwork cushion for her.One side is red and the other aqua. Each side is pieced, with appliqued and reverse appliqued stars in each quarter. (Click any of the images for a closer look) I blanket stitched around the reverse appliqued stars with two strands of embroidery floss. Upon closer inspection, it turns out I should have also stitched around the other stars, as my raw edge straight stitching wasn't. Straight, that is. So I had better do a bit more blanket stitching before next Friday!

Do you think she likes it?
The next project is a set of party bags for Romily's birthday party next Saturday. The lucky girl will have two cakes this year, as her actual birthday is on Wednesday. She's stoked!

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Tristan continues to be as cute as a button. Look what he started doing! This is with no prompting from me. He has been watching Romily 'play telephones' and decided that he can do it too. How cute are they at this age? So funny, adorable and they don't talk back and give you attitude. My mum is right, nine to eighteen months is just a fabulous age :)

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Dancing queen

With great excitement, we headed off last Tuesday to Romily's first ever dance class. She was primed and ready to go and I hoped that she would love it. Well, I didn't have to worry! As soon as we opened the door to go in - they were just starting - she joined straight in and started copying every move the dance teacher made. She got down and boogied and it was just fantastic! She also, in Romily's very special way, said this in one breath to the teacher:

I don't go to Gymbaroo anymore because I'm too big now and I can do everything at Gymbaroo and I'm not challenged anymore so now I come to Blueberries!

You should have seen the teacher's jaw drop! It was hysterical. Romily's biggest challenge at dance class so far has been learning when it's appropriate to speak :) She just loved it and I had a hard time getting her out of the studio after the class finished. She wanted to keep dancing and watching herself in the wall-to-wall mirrors.
A dancing queen in the making!

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This may come as a shock to some, but Tristan is now 11 months old! How did nearly a year fly by, I hear you ask? Don't ask me - it's been a whirlwind of sleepless nights, breastfeeding, pooey nappies and chuckles. He is such a gorgeous bubba, such a happy chappy. I just love him to bits. We've been 'night weaning' this week and it's going pretty well - he was ready and just needed a bit of encouragement and withholding by the dairy! Last night, after a late night out, he slept from midnight to 6am without waking. Woohoo! Here's my big boy on his birth quilt made by my EB Quilter buddies, and here he is making off with it!
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Last night we attended our friends' annual Christmas in July dinner party. They do a Kris Kringle each year and, as I did last year, I chose to make our gifts. I made two quilted table toppers using up some of the Christmas fabrics I bought a couple of years ago. I don't really like the fabric anymore, but it was perfect for KK gifts.
Tristan liked them too!