A picture of concentration

 

 

 

 

 

Oma taught Hannah to knit during these holidays. It's not often that we see her so engrossed in an activity! Thank you, Oma!

Drawing the boys

Normally 6am - 10am is my most productive time of day, when I get all the various household jobs and errands out of the way. Lately, however, it has been so hard to get going in the morning, which leaves me frustrated for the rest of the day. Of course, the ongoing hot weather hasn't helped! 

It's time to make some changes to my day, though, to allow myself to start out a bit slower in the morning and save some energy to tackle some of the household tasks later in the afternoon. So yesterday, once the bigger children had gone to school I sat myself in the playroom with the boys and my sketchbook for 15 minutes or so.

 

Caleb and Daniel loved  me being there and I managed some little sketches of little boys playing (amazing how many different postures that involves).

 

 

 It was a most relaxing quarter of an hour, and helped to set the tone for the rest of the day (sounds rather psychological, but it worked for us!)

Thankyou

Thankyou for all your lovely comments and well wishes here and on Facebook! We're all rather excited; Caleb most of all ("Why is the baby STILL not coming out?").

Meanwhile, I'm thoroughly enjoying putting my new quilt together. More than halfway there now.

 

 

 And while I have been stitching, Caleb has been teaching Daniel how to play 'Scaredy Cat'. This is a great game for this age, although I did notice that Caleb took two turns for every turn that Daniel had... (They were playing so nicely that I didn't interfere).

 

 

 

Our map cushions

OK, this is way overdue... This project was finished more than a year ago and I just realised I never shared it with you. So I hereby present you with our map cushions:

 

At the time my sister shared a blog post with me (from OhDeeDoh, I think) which showed a stylised world map painted over about 12 small canvasses. Because I was not going to be short on wall art for the new house, and because I was keen on some more cushiony-type things in the boys bedroom, I decided to try these instead. I call this a 'fun' project because I think the end result is a fun touch to a children's bedroom. The actual sewing was anything but fun - one of those 'what-on-earth-was-I-thinking-when-I-started-this' projects.

 

The map was made by machine appliqueing the various shapes to the blue background, one layer at a time. I used my free-motion foot for that to save having to turn the fabric quite so much, but it was still a massive job. Love how it turned out though.

Drawing, thanks to my modelling team

Tuesdays are currently no-sew days for me. The plan is to focus on my various drawing projects instead. Today that meant a quick before-school photoshoot. 

Thankfully I have a live-in modelling team.

 

 

Today's illustrations dealt with blaming others and self-examination. Thankfully artistic license enables me to wipe those self-satisfied smirks off those faces!

After a day of drawing, I'm looking forward to getting back to my sewing machine tomorrow!

The red trike

This trike features in the quilt I am working on at the moment. 

 

I've taken it inside, for drawing / photography / inspiration purposes. 

Actually, I have long dreamed of claiming this trike for myself and repurposing it as a side table for my books and a cup of coffee, something like this...

 

but it looks like I may be waiting a while yet.

 

I've been a busy beaver in the studio this week, and this newest quilt is all cut out.

I'm looking forward to piecing it together now, and hoping it turns out something like the mental picture I have of it...

Caleb draws Jeremy

 

Over the weekend I was thinking about all the various drawing 'tasks' I have to do over the coming weeks, and about how nice it would be if Caleb was more interested in drawing, so that he could join me. Unlike Aaron and Hannah who were always busy doing art and craft at this age, Caleb is perfectly content to play with his really useful engines all day long. 

 

Then yesterday, out of the blue, while he was busy with the trains and their friends he suddenly declared "Mummy, I'm going to draw Jeremy" and off he went. 

 

I love the fact that instead of drawing a stereotypical plane, he put Jeremy next to his paper and drew what he could see - exactly what every high school art teacher drums into his/her students...

 

Now he's back with his engine friends. I'm curious to see when the next artistic urge will strike.

Another birthday quilt

 

After Hannah's birthday last year, Aaron very sweetly asked if he could maybe have a quilt for his bed too, for his next birthday. Of course, I had to think long and hard about that one... just kidding... I was already planning to make him one, but wasn't sure if he'd appreciate it as a birthday present, so I was very happy to be proven wrong.
 

With regular little reminders that February is birthday month, I blocked out today for piecing the top together. So happy how it's looking. I was mulling over various ideas involving plain fabric and simple geometric designs, but when I loved this quilt by Rita of Red Pepper Quilts the moment I saw it. I took chose colours to coordinate with the old school maps hanging in Aaron (and Caleb's) room.

 

The piecing was completed 10 minutes before the kids came home from school - perfect timing!

Visiting Perth Cultural Centre

In a departure from quilts and quiltmaking, the kids and I enjoyed an outing to the Perth Cultural Centre today (and I actually had a camera with me). The Centre includes the WA Museum, Art Gallery of WA, Alexander Library and PICA but we spent our time outside in the public open space between these buildings. We love the way this area has shaped up and the kids would have also loved to spend a few hours at both the art gallery and museum.

Aaron wilts in hot weather (you can see him in one of the photos above), but despite this, they all (and I) enjoyed relaxing here - looking for frogs, watching dragonflies, eating icecream... and discovering the beautifully built playground outside the WA Museum.

And while I think of it, those of you who have young children might enjoy this post on the anderson crew's blog. I did, and realised that I already implement some similar 'rules' myself. Today, for example, we agreed beforehand that icecreams where going to be the perfect thing to enjoy together (a little bribe because I also had to do a teeny bit of shopping), but I also firmly insisted that we would not be visiting the museum this time round, as that would turn it into an epic adventure which I simply didn't have the energy for. Keeping it short and sweet meant that everyone went home happy!