Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Material books

My boy is a bookworm in every sense of the word. He loves to be read to or just sit and "read" his books but if I'm distracted every now and again ill look over to find him munching on a book! Yum yum! Poor where is the green sheep, one of his favourites, has been quite chewed! 

The boy would really like to take his books to bed so I've made a few material books for him. They buy me those few extra moments before I have to rush into him in the morning! The latest one I finished today, Paddington bear to go with his soft toy.

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Toddler Felt Play Scene

Today was wet and drizzly and the boy and I needed a rainy day game. I've had a few projects to make for the boy floating around in my head for a while and this felt play scene was one. I started whilst the boy was sleeping and managed to finish enough for him to play with when he woke up, will have to make a few extra felt animals later. 

The boy's first picture, the flying horse is my favourite!

I wanted to sew something that he could play with that has lots of colours and the animals he is interested in. The boy loved it, he started to play by placing the animals and other felt items on the picture but then decided that it was so much more fun to scrunch up the felt items and sit on the picture! He had fun, not quite in the way I expected but as long as he enjoyed it!


Sitting on the picture is fun!

The project was easier than I'd thought. I am terrible at drawing so I cut the felt freehand and was quite satisfied with the results.

There are a few things I'd do differently if I embarked on this project again.
 - The backing, stiffened felt, that I bought was green as they didn't have any sky blue but sky blue would have looked much better, I wouldn't have had to have the seam in the sky.
- The horse, whilst I loved the design, next time I would do a double layer or buy thicker felt and sew 1/8" around the edge. The felt wasn't quite strong enough, it lasted about 5mins with the boy before a leg was pulled off.
- The felt stretched considerably, thicker felt would have worked better.

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Lone star quilt

I love making line star quilts. There is something really satisfying about them. Perhaps its the challenge of the y seams, or perhaps it's the diamonds or getting the setting rectangles and triangles right, who knows? I love making them, the finished effect and that they look impressive but are no where near as hard as they look! I may have bitten off more than I could chew with the quilting of this one though! I don't think I'll jump back into quilting one of this size again soon!! My new machine was amazing though! There was no way I would have been able to do it on my old one!
So this quilt is for my sister-in-law for her 30th... Which was back in November... Ooops! She has seen it though and I promised it before winter! Looks like I'll make it before winter... Just!!! Last finishing touches to be done... Hand sewing the binding to the back of the quilt, then it's ready to post!

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Mother's Day came early this year!

I have wanted a food processor for so long! I have had stick mixers with varying attachments but I've never actually had a food processor. I'm in love! I've already used to to make orange juice, grate cheese and slice beef for dinner. (We are having enchiladas) it did such a wonderful job! Beats chopping it all myself!

Monday, May 6, 2013

Toddler resilience amazes me

The resilience of my toddler constantly amazes me. We have struggled to bring his temperature down below 38degC for the last day and a half not to mention being up since 3:30am first with temperature then he was protesting sleep as he was feeling unwell, I assume... Or maybe he just didn't feel like sleeping... But come 7am with his temperature normal, a spot of breakfast and a doctors appointment booked he is running around like nothing's wrong! He even brought me his boots to go outside! Wonder if it will last...

Update... Two types of antibiotics, one for chest infection and other for a clostridium infection... No wonder he was miserable!

Thursday, May 2, 2013

FIFO a lifestyle of extremes

My husband took on a FIFO job a few months ago. Even after a few months I'm not sure what I really think of the lifestyle. It has been made harder or easier, depending on how I look at it, by the fact that I'm still attempting to work part time. Harder because there is so much more for me to do and less downtime but also easier because I don't have time to dwell on his absence. What I can conclude though is that it is a lifestyle of extremes. Huge highs when we are all home together for the longer periods of time, especially when my husband and boy get to spend so much more quality time together, and lows when the boy and I are sick and someone to look after us both would have been awesome.
So far I think the positives have outweighed the negatives but the jury is still out...

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Autumn colours

It's really starting to look like autumn here. I love the colours and this tree in our backyard is simply stunning.