Mess

There is a terrible mess on the living room floor, but considering the fun ALL THREE kids have had for the last two hours, who cares?

No explanation required

Our camping trip was made with 'just' our own little family. One of the things I like about camping by ourselves is that I don't need to explain or justify to anyone why I have brought along a bag of stuffing and another bag full of assorted elephant body parts. These various body bits were machine stitched at home, and stuffed, embroidered and assembled by hand at the campsite early in the mornings and after the kids went to bed. Now for some clothes...

I'm back!

Sorry for dropping off the scene without notice! The last days of school and holiday preparations got away with me, and I never managed a 'see you later' post. I hope you had a blessed Christmas!

We thoroughly enjoyed our 10 days of camping. In addition to lots of beach and pool swimming, there was a good amount of this...
and this...
and this...
and on Caleb's part, a whole lot of mess-making!
And yes, I also took some handwork along - a last minute decision, at Phil's insistence, for the sake of his and my sanity! I'll show what I was working on when I get around to taking some photos. Right now, we are off to swimming lessons...

Battling on

There are days when I would love to get rid of everything related to my quiltmaking and sewing, and live a much simpler life. Seriously. Although I believe that the point of everything that I do is to give glory to God, some days I still struggle with the 'point' of my quiltmaking, and then I also find it hard to enjoy what I am doing*. Yesterday was like that. Maybe its my mental state for the day, or maybe its the circumstances in which I am working at the time (such as, engaged in a power struggle with my one and a half year old). Maybe the step I am working on also comes into it... like this little lady...
She nearly had me beat yesterday... With artistic license to give her any hairstyle under the sun, what on earth possessed me to do plaits, and at this scale? If I'd had any doubts about the design of this quilt I think I would have binned it at this point. But I am very excited about this quilt design, so we pushed on...
and she was conquered, and before bedtime too! Now to 'conquer' the one and a half year old...

* Admittedly, on such days I also find it hard to enjoy other jobs and projects.

Fun for all

Just showing you some of the kids craft activities we have been keeping busy with:
- this particular drawing of Caleb's is definitely for keeping. He worked at it so intensely that he was huffing and puffing!
- Hannah's collage kept her busy for several days - that's the sort of craft project I like! First she covered the background of her large paper with magazine paper, sort of representing sky, water and grass. Then we drew lots of pictures for her to colour, cut and paste. And then she enthusiastically kept on drawing her own pictures as well as cutting out magazine pictures.
- the sequin-covered balls were inspired by this post. Be careful - this is VERY therapeutic and you might just find yourself distracted from the various chores that need doing!

Meanwhile, we are down to 1 more sleep!! Yes, Phil's coming back three days earlier than expected, which we're all rather excited about. I must say, though, that all those 'sleeps' didn't look half so daunting in the form of Hannah's lovehearts!

Ticked off

Well, its Thursday, and my goals have been met... the elm quilt is quilted, the house has been springcleaned from top to bottom, the car has been washed, the baby clothes have been pulled out of storage and washed, the herb garden has been planted, the christmas cards are stamped and ready to drop into the post box, the bulk of the holiday groceries have been ordered and packed away, and the birth announcement cards have been designed...
Now I'm waiting for the kettle to boil so I can enjoy a coffee, while I eagerly anticipate new projects! I'm hoping that the next week will hold a nice variety of sketching, piecing a new quilt top, sewing elephants, reading and probably some kids craft thrown in for good measure... sort of a little stay-at-home holiday as we count down towards Phils return!
One less-anticipated project will be to cut out a new quilt top, for when I have spare time to sew after the baby comes. I know, go ahead and laugh... but just imagine how frustrating it would be if I DO get spare time to sew, only to find there is nothing to sew! I like to be prepared! Last week I dyed some browns and skin-tones for this, with good results. After my recent experiments with red, I am now using a better quality homespun, and managed to find a source where I can get this at wholesale prices, which I'm rather happy about!

Any helpful tips for removing half a pot (no exaggeration!) of Vaseline from a head of baby hair?