ordinary days

I hadn't meant to be away for long. School holidays came and went. Although I was home, and it was both enjoyable and busy, unfortunately any well meaning intentions to blog flew out the window. Then I lost the internet for a week. Strangely enough I think it was what I really needed. I started and finished a novel. The house looked tidier than it had in years. I did some sewing. I started a new knitting project. I felt so productive. Perhaps there is a lesson to be learnt from that week.

 I think the hardest part about coming back to a blog when you've been away is breaking the ice again.

So I'll let the pictures do the talking today, just so that I can ease myself back into it.

The fire is on and a white fog envelopes everything outside. Ugg boots and an op shopped polyester fleece dressing gown are keeping me nice and cosy as I type. Dirty floors and extra washing are inevitable after the weekend. Which reminds me that the flannel sheets need to go on the bed today. It looks like today will be an ordinary day of cleaning up after the weekend. Ordinary, but good, I hope.

 I found this little assortment outside. The girls must have picked them and left them there.

Valley view.

School holiday soup lunch.

Painting with cut potatoes.

Pretty compost.

Holiday reading from my own childhood books.

From the garden.

Baking.

 
As above.




May your day be an ordinarily good one too. See you soon.

Julia's scarf

In the absence of anything crafty to post, I thought I would show you Julia's latest sewing project. She seems to have overtaken me in the crafting stakes lately, and perhaps I should be taking a leaf out of her book. She has taken naturally to sewing by machine, unlike her mother. Despite my own mother sewing often as a child, I was always too scared to learn. I remember avoiding the machine in the one term I did of sewing in high school. I still wonder how I passed that class.

I was pretty proud of Julia's latest effort, a scarf, of which the pattern came from Sewing School
2, a book that we bought her for christmas. She chose an assortment of floral sheeting she had in her very own little stash, and backed it with some Anna Maria Horner flannel that was in my stash. It always interests me to see which fabrics people mix together, and especially when that person is your 9 year old daughter.

I guided her throughout but she happily did all the cutting, pinning, ironing and sewing herself. Including hand sewing the loop hole by hand at the very end.

Perhaps my inspiration to get right back into something crafty may be sitting right in front of me. It does make me think that perhaps a small, uncomplicated project may be just what I need to get myself back into my sewing space.

popcorn, books and grass roots

It's Friday! It's been a fairly busy one around here with a few extra errands to run, book week costumes to organize (always rather stressful and always only ready the night before), local playgroup and another sports carnival in Canberra today.

Here are a few little snaps from the week. I'm finding this dark, windy (and currently rainy) weather does not make it terribly conducive for photo taking indoors, which is where we mostly find ourselves these days. The girls have made orange juice ice blocks several times during the week, despite it not really being ice block friendly weather. There has been a little painting. I'm afraid I'm not very organized on the home crafting front and poor Violet had no paint. So I mixed a little food colouring for instant water colour "paint'. I don't think she minded!

A few books arrived in the mail today. A few on pattern making, which is something I've been curious about for some time. Sometimes you have an idea in your head or you remember a favourite dress from your past. It would be great to know how to recreate it wouldn't it?

I renewed my Taproot subscription some time back and the first new issue arrived today. I missed this little magazine appearing every few months in my mail box. The best way of putting it, is that I actually feel good after I read it. I have noticed a restless, unsatisfied feeling creeping in after reading a particular local, beautifully photographed, mainstream magazine. The ads are plentiful, as are many of the pockets of the city-part-time-country people in between the pages. I've been enjoying some simpler publications lately, especially Grass Roots magazine, which I find to be refreshing in an honest old fashioned hippie kind of  way. It doesn't try to be something it is not.

From Cleo to Grass Roots in the space of a decade. How things have changed!


So how has your week been?
Are you a magazine reader too?
What magazines are you into lately?

a few little things

A few little things brightening up life right now:

Nut loaf from Coming Home To Eat. Baked with spelt flour, sweetened with honey (speaking of honey did anyone else catch this story?) and I replaced the dates with dried apricots. Pretty good! Though I'm trying not to eat too much because it was made for a lunchbox treat afterall. I'm thinking the freezer option may be a good idea.

I received a parcel this week filled with the most beautiful handmade little clothes for Violet. Many of you will know the lovely Lea, and she was so very kind to pass these on. Aren't they just wonderful? Thank you Lea!

I finally made my first batch of playdough. It seems to be a hit, although the pink, red and green has now blended into a giant blob of funny brown. I do hope my crochet rug (cold frosty morning!) fared okay.

Slow but steady progress is being made on the Nituna jacket for Julia. She selected the pattern and the fabric (from the stash), while I chose the lining.  Hopefully it will be finished before Spring hits. I really should start sewing and knitting a season ahead!


What little things have been brightening your day lately?

Eight Little Things

1. Knitted things, old blankets and a sling that no longer fit. All well loved and well used. But I can't bear to give them away.
2. Cleaning out the wardrobes and making sure there are enough Winter clothes. Thank goodness for op shops and hand-me-downs. I'm hoping to make a few things to fill the gaps.
3. An almost finished made by Julia skirt - her first machine project.
4. Little Treasures : Made by Hand arrived in the mail yesterday. An independent little book full of beautiful pictures and ideas for projects. The perfect little coffee escape.
5. Also in the mail - a small perennials order for the front garden from Honeysuckle Cottage. Be warned that it is easy to get lost within this site reading all about old world roses and uncommon flowers.
6. A new top for Julia is in the works.
7. Old quilts pulled out of storage for the lounge.
8. Coffee. Always coffee these days.

What little things have you been enjoying this week?

coffee, quilting, food

We've been taking things easy here this week. While the kids have been occupied with the things kids do around the house to fight off boredom, I've managed to have some sort of return to normal. Though it is the normal of the school holidays, which means sleeping in a little and just being a little more relaxed about everything.

So I have been drinking a little too much coffee (thanks to the little coffee machine Daniel bought me for christmas, which took quite some time to master), I have been obsessively fighting off ants in the kitchen (vinegar washing today, if anyone has any other ideas feel free to suggest away!) and I am delving into the world of quilting. Something I've been meaning to try for awhile now. Yes, it's true I have done patchwork in the past, with my doona cover and a few other little projects, but I would really like to learn the art of making a proper quilt. It is my first time using a rotary cutter, and it's really not that hard afterall.

I received some mail the other day, of the very best kind. Sarah of Gladys in the Garden blog, so very kindly sent me a vintage tracing wheel, and a beautiful tablecloth. All so prettily wrapped. I love things that are both practical and beautiful. Thank you Sarah!

I have also been catching time here and there to do some reading. Last week I mentioned that I was missing certain foods and felt we needed to get back on track with our eating habits. I find the very best incentive for me is to read about food. About the way it nourishes, the healing and preventative foods, as well as the ones to stay away from. So I've been re-reading the gentle Nourishing Traditions, as well as beginning Big Fat Lies, which picks up where Sweet Poison left off, and is written in an entertaining way, though there is no hiding from the truth here.

I've been motivated to make more soup, more salads, a loaf of bread (defrosted dough from the freezer) and a batch of slow-cooker yoghurt. It's not that easy in the warmer weather, as my big oven turns this place into a hothouse, but I know we all feel healthier as a family when I make that extra effort.


And how have you been? I feel I have missed so much in the blogging world while spending most of the past month away from this space. It is nice to be back!


Hoping your week has been treating you well.

her sewing space

As I cleaned out the spare room last week, setting up Violet's side of the room, tidying my sewing corner which becomes quite messy by the time I finish a project, I realised that we had a spare corner where the computer used to sit. So I moved all of Julia's sewing and writing materials into the dresser, because her growing collection had definitely outgrown her little space in the bedroom. I know myself how much better I work, how much more enjoyable and quicker the process is, when I have a defined, organized space to work in.

So now her sewing books have a (Luca made) toolbox to contain them, her sewing and fabric boxes have their own space, her writing set is free from little hands, and she has a drawer to keep all those odds and ends. There is also space to set up her sewing machine one day. We finished it off with Zara's pretty bunting.

Most afternoons you will find Julia at some time or other sitting at her desk working or designing or reading about little projects. Her weekly sewing class is teaching her the finer details of sewing, but at home she takes a looser, more creative approach. I love how she just gets into a project and has a go.

 It seems the new little sewing corner has been churning out quite a few practical projects lately. A cards holder for her brother and his magic tricks,  a felt ornament for the tree and a handbag of her own.

Julia's favourite sewing books :

Sewing School : 21 Projects Kids will Love to Make
Stitch By Stitch
Simple Softies for the Whole Family
Sweet and Simple Sewing
Beginners Guide to Sewing and Knitting (an old out of print copy by Helen Allen)

I must say it is one of my favourite moments of the day when we happen to be working on different projects side by side. We ask each other what we are making. We have little discussions, talk about plans and ideas. I'm having fun sharing our sewing space.

making the most of the cold

I'm afraid there's not a lot of motivation to spend any time outdoors at the moment. It's been cold. The plants have almost stopped growing and much of the grass is brown from the daily frosts. Once we've braved the cold for soccer (and I try not to think too much about my son running around in a t-shirt and shorts in low single digits) and picked up Julia from her sewing lesson, it's mostly been a return to indoors and back by the warmth of the fire. Shared simple meals break up the weekend days. But the weekend I purposely ignored the steadily growing pile of laundry that had outgrown it's drawer space and was threatening to swallow up the entire pantry floor.

Instead I concentrated on some making. I worked some more on Violet's Autumn Leaves (the free pattern is here),  which encouraged Julia to do a little more knitting herself. I cut up some old magazines for another scrapbook. Something, I admit, I have never grown out of.  Though I think Daniel wishes I would. My mum helped me cut out a dress for Julia. I admire her accuracy with pinning and cutting out. All done so carefully and accurately, a reminder of her time as a pattern grader in the 70's. This accuracy is something I need to work on as I tend to be a little lazy in this department, and then wonder why those seams don't quite join as they should. Julia, too, had a little sewing project of her own to work on in the form of a simple stuffed toy of her own design.

 It is brought home to me again, the contentment that can be found in simple creative things. That is not just about the finished cardigan or dress, but as much about the process involved from selecting colours, the texture of the item in your hands, to the pleasure of knitting by the fire.

And while the weather may be not so nice, and Spring feels very far away, it does feel that we are making the very most of this season in our own way.