Pyjama Day

Do you do Pyjama Day at your place?  We had one here today.  Well the wee ones are the only ones that go about in pjs all day not us big lot!  Pity!  But we really needed a our day of rest today that is for sure.  The last couple of days have been crazy busy, moving my mum.  OK, moving house isn't so bad but moving house & shop contents is quite a feat!  It certainly proved to be true.  I did it all lugging around 2 little kids too!  Poor guys.  But they were good really.  As long as the littlest had the attention required at feed time & change time & a wee bit of a nap thrown in in between the moving shuffle, we got by.  The big boy was a trooper, so good really considering all the upheaval going on around him.  It was good for him to see though as it makes the transition of grandma's moving a bit easier.  He did say at one point when I was trying to explain again, "I'm going to miss Grandma so much!".  But you will still see her, just in a different house.  I think he is really going to miss the playing shops bit though that grandma is forced to play each & every time.  It's more fun playing shops in a real shop you know!  

Today I took a little bit of time out too, to spend on my ripple blanket.  DJ & I went outside on picnic blanket in the shade of our lovely tree & there we sat till 5pm as it turned out.  (it seems the camera isn't on daylight savings time! lol)  

We did a bit of this....

DJ did a bit of this!  

All that fresh air!  

Uh oh, looks like I am wearing out my quilt!  Needs a little bit of repair work done.  Bother.  But it's all good.  It means we are using it & it isn't tucked in the back of the cupboard being wasted.  I like to use the stuff I make.  Well that's the point isn't it?  This was my first ever quilt top too.  It was done when I didn't have a clue what I was doing.  I did the top, then went on to do classes at a local store, which just happens to be the one I work in now.  (no I am not the quilt expert in store!)  After some beginner classes on quilting basics, then more in basting, binding & machine quilting, this actually became my second quilt as the first one was the one from the classes.  But at least I got to figure out how to finish this one off else the top would be still sitting in the cupboard.  It is my dog quilt.  I used all the Debbie Mumm fabrics that I could find at the time with dogs & a couple of others thrown in for good measure.  I still have quite a bit of it left too which is no surprise!  I think maybe the quilted paws were a bit adventurous for the time I did it, but I had it in my mind from that start that that is what I wanted to put on the plain squares.  I'm glad I did it though.  I think if I thought about it too much I would never have tried.  But it looks pretty cute.  

Grandma gave BJ a little present last night as he was so good over the last few days.  He even helped pack & move where he could.  He just wanted to help.  If you ever move, a kid likes kitchen utensil drawers.  Remove the knives & tell them to chuck all the rest in a box.  Too easy!  It may take 15 minutes longer than it would have taken you to do it, as they will probably ask you what each piece is for, but as long as you have other jobs to do around a kitchen you are pleased for a minor distraction.  Anyway, that is beside the point really.  Grandma gave BJ a box of 4 dinosaurs with paint.  As it was late yesterday before we were home again I had said we would do them today.  So paint we did!  Well he did.  I just had to hold their tails so he could paint tummies.  No he doesn't like to get paint on his fingers but he did a little & didn't complain too much!  lol  Thank goodness I put the paper on the table first!  

Recycle tip for the day - if you have large calendars with nice pictures that you didn't want to throw away, they make really good drop sheets for kids crafts & then you can throw the nice picture away without too much guilt!  As you can see, this is a big calendar page.  It came in very useful I think.  

OK, pyjama day is over.  I need to get into mine.  There is no way I can stay up to watch anymore tennis as I can see this match will still go for at least another hour & a half.  That will make it almost midnight.  Nope, that's me done for the weekend.  Catchya later! 

Hope Your Day Was As Terrific

We had the most awesome Australia Day.  What has turned into an annual event, our Australia Day Barbecue has proved to be ever popular & hugely fun once again.  For having so many people at home - about 30, it is still one of the most relaxing days of entertaining to be had.  It was awesome weather.  We had so much awesome food & lots of awesome company.  It really makes for a pleasant day.  The tribe of kids had a blast with each other.  They all had great fun under the bubble sprinkler & making apple juice out of lemons.  Hmmm... interesting, but kids can do almost anything they put their minds on so I won't argue with any logic that is behind such a thing.  

I did start a new square on Wednesday & managed to get the last rounds in yesterday before everyone arrived at lunch time.  I really like this one, the Efflorescent Window.  I very nearly ditched it on the first couple of rounds but I persevered & wouldn't let it win.  It turned out OK after all.  I quite like this one with the little window in the middle.  I was able to make it the size I needed for my smaller bunch of squares too after the giant the other day.  I have a nice little collection now.  I will have to post a group picture of them soon.  

So now I will have to keep reminding myself all day that it is Friday after yesterday felt like Saturday all day.    But it's all good as tomorrow we get another Saturday!  Two in a week.  Bonus!  Have a good one!  Stay cool if you are sweltering, stay dry if you are getting loads of rain & if you are on the other side of the world, enjoy whatever the day brings!  

Practice Is Good

This square looked the scariest of them all so far in our Crochet along challenge, but wasn't at all.  It was time consuming & I had a little disagreement with the Elongated Back Post Stitches, but we kissed & made up after a little while.  Yeah, even the name of the stitches scared me!  This is the New Year's Eve square. It also turned out large, as once again I couldn't make it smaller.  Well I wondered if the green lacy looking bit could have managed with one row less, but I just left it as is.  The Star Odyssey square I did last week is slightly smaller so I will add a row to that one & it will be the same as this.  I am guessing that as I go along making squares it will happen that there are a couple of different sizes, & some that I can't adjust much.  So I will go with it for now, & will end up with two sampler blankets I guess.  That's cool too.  In the meantime I am learning, developing my crochet skills, learning to read patterns better, figuring out some finer points of crochet that I still wonder about each time I change colours, & wonder if I will ever know the secrets to these things.  In the mean time I hope I am doing some of these things right.  I guess time will tell, if the blankets fall apart!


An end of an era today with mum's shop being open for the last time today.  Wow, after 18 long years it is time for her to move on!  It's scary for her but exciting none the less.  Bring on retirement!  Yay Mum!

Terrific Tuesday

I'm lucky enough to work in a craft shop.  At the moment I am only there a day a week, so by the time I get there again it's often the case that a bunch of new stuff has arrived again that I get to catch up on.  Today was no different.  I got there & for once there was a range of fabric that although I had to look at it a few times it really grew on me & I came to love it.  Often I look at new fabrics & think blah, or a couple in a group are OK only, but this lot I must say really sucked me in with all of them.  I don't know why as I really am not a florally person.  But this range seems to have a bit of a vintage feel about it.  It's really cool.  The range is Covent Garden by Benartex.  This is 12 of the range.  I see there are a few more in different colour ways but these as a set of 12 are really great.  I got to cut up a whole stack of it today for kits which will look awesome.   I am seriously considering some of this range.  I love the colours.  The 4th one from the left looks so vintage sheet-ish.  I am really taken with this lot.  I wonder if I can find something interesting to use them for.  I must have a plan before I buy some as I must get enough before it disappears & disappears fast I think.  Lucky I don't have girls to sew for else they would be well decked out in this I think.  

Sunday Treats

It had been a while since we did anything like go out on an outing such as this.  So it was a real treat for us, but especially for train mad BJ.  We had a few relatives over from the big bit of Oz so spent the afternoon first having a barbecue lunch at home & then we went for a nice leisurely train ride.  As you do.  It was somewhere we had talked about going for a while to let BJ experience the train & now we had the perfect excuse.  It was a nice little ride.  We go past the place often, but you know, you just don't do those tourist things so much when they are right on your doorstep.  So we have finally experienced the Don River Railway.  BJ loved it so much he wanted to go back today of course.  Or next week.  He doesn't mind when but I guess the sooner the better.  Maybe we will again before his birthday as he is still free!  

The carriage we were in was a cute old wooden thing.  Lovely little hi-lite windows at the top with etched glass.  Loved that bit.  The kids all had a great time, not just BJ.  But so did all the grown ups.  

 Cute little interiors

 Watching the steam engine back onto the carriages.  Fascinating stuff for little (& big) boys!

 Ice-creams all round...

Just to top it off nicely we went to the bestest ever chocolate factory around for after treat treats of icecream.  I did get a couple of chocolates to take home for later though.  Shhhh don't tell.  Oh I did give one to Stuart but it was treat for once the boys were in bed.  Love their chocolates.  Heaven...  now I must admit though that this is one tourist place I do know very, very well.  They do a great coffee, they do a great hot chocolate, they do great light meals & they do the bestest ever desserts.  (try the Orange Mousse Cake if you are there, but if I'm there too make sure you leave a piece for me!)  Oh & they also have a bit of factory viewing which wasn't in operation on a Sunday but I have seen them working there through the viewing window.  Quite interesting.  There are also plenty of samples to taste test which we did.  I was very lucky as they had my favourite hazelnut truffle in the taste containers this time.  What a lovely afternoon.  No doubt I will be there again soon, even if it is just for a take away coffee or hot chocolate as you get a piece of fudge & a truffle with each takeaway drink so worth the stop for sure!  

I have been there a few times over the last couple of months.  I am in a group on Ravelry that is made up of a few locals & this has become our meet up place for a couple of hours of knit & crochet time, with a coffee & cake of course!  (that is the point after all!  You thought the point was the knit & crochet time didn't you!)  Each time we have been there it has been packed with people.  It's always so busy on a weekend.  Anyway, I will leave you drooling over the thought of such yummy chocolate.  If you haven't been there before or tasted their stuff, you don't know what you are missing.  If you have been there & tried it, ha ha, you do know what you are missing!

An Old Favourite

Do you have a favourite shirt that you just can't part with?  I do...  I have had my We Will Rock You t-shirt for such a long time & I haven't been able to wear it since pre-kids.  lol  It lost its shape terribly & also became too small for some reason.  Oh well.  But still I couldn't throw it out.  For one thing, I really loved the show.  Loved it.  Totally.  In fact, I changed my flights & stuff to fit it in after Stu had been to Melbourne for a concert & this & he said I just had to see it.  So, I did.  Well worth it & heck I got an extra night in Melbourne!  Bonus!  

 I saved it.  Yesterday was laundry day.  I did get it all finished, but in between I did re-purpose this old shirt for BJ.  I thought it would be hard, or trickier than it was, but it was so easy.  Took about ten minutes.  That's it.  & that included re-pinning around the shirt where I used BJ's Scooby-do shirt for sizing.  He thought I was wrecking Scooby!  So took the pins out again.  Anyway, it worked.  It probably won't last much longer but it does the job of my not having to ditch the shirt quite yet.  New life in it & he was happy with a new shirt.  So easily pleased at that age!    

I Want To Be Little Again

After my post the other day when I said that BJ was upset because he wanted to be little again (you can find it here), I got to thinking how nice it was to be little.  It's nice to be oblivious to all the grown up stuff going on around you!  I really don't want my boys to grow up too fast but I wonder these days if the way we live does make it happen sooner than it did in my growing up days.  I know I was naive about so many things that went on around me for a long time!  I guess so much has changed & now it will be a good lesson in how to protect my boys from things to a certain degree, before I feel like they need to do or know stuff...


I thought I would have a turn at being little again anyway, with a little group of pictures of me back then...

1. Myself, little baby Chris & Mum.  No idea where this is.  I can see expressions of BJ & DJ in me there.  
2. Big sister Judy on the big bike.  Myself & Chris squished on the trike.  We used to spend a LOT of time riding our bikes on our driveway.  
3. Ours summers were spent camping.  We didn't leave town, we took the caravan over the river to a camp ground there & spent most of the summer there.  They were good times.  Myself & Chris sunbaking!  At least I have zinc cream on my nose, but I doubt the rest of me has any sunscreen!  
4. Beach babe Me!  You won't see me in a bikini ever again!
5. Chris, Mum & I again.  This time planting fruit trees in the new garden.  We each had our own fruit tree that we chose.  Mine was a plum tree.  
6. Judy & I.  My first pay packet.  The olden days when you got paid in cash in a little envelope specially made for pays.  Our Opa had a business & we used to help I guess.  Turned out I ended up working there for 10 years later on so this was the start of a long career.  

So there you go.  I love it that there are gadgets that can convert slides to PC.
Stay cool!