The Dining Room

I think I mentioned that we did up our dining room recently to make it function as both a dining room and a sewing room without always looking like a bomb site.  The final bit was putting in a window seat to store my machines and bits and pieces easily.  It has worked like a dream.  The light in this room always seems to be gorgeous, especially since we took down the heavy curtains.  As we didn't get a very hot summer, we haven't yet had cause to regret that yet.  The window seat is used constantly, for taking a nap, plaing games, doing a bit of crafty whatever, lying on to listen to an ipod (yes, we caved) as well as to store my stuff, which it does easily and is not a pain to use. We eat at the table - not every day but if someone is over, or for cake, or if the kitchen table is full and no one can be bothered clearing it.  For a while the playroom was my favourite room, but now its no contest.  I can't stop photographing it, which you'll know if you follow me on Instagram.

A Week Away

Green through every window

Is it just me or are overalls really cool?

It looked so much like something I'd be paying $15 a kilo for at home, but I am just not game to risk it

Sheoak Falls  - with water

New fireplace, hot milk and friends Iris and Audrey

Sassy and Grace

Big fat koala

Bouquets

New passion

No big kids allowed

Gully preparing his marshmellow toasting stick

We just had a week away and though I took my decent camera, the convenience of the iPhone always seems to trump lugging the SLR around.  It's a shame, really, when the scenery deserves better treatment.  A week seemed such a luxuriously long time to spend surrounded by intense beauty, and even the fact that it barely stopped raining for five of the days, and hailed as we were walking to Sheoak Falls, couldn't detract from the pleasure.  We had visitors galore and it was so good to share this place with others.  I delighted in the fun all the kids had playing in the abundant mud, until I didn't, and then I was completely over it.  Over the mud caked gum boots, the 'mud gloves', the filthy trousers, the squelchy runners, the mud caked car interior that will eventually (hopefully by somebody other than me) require cleaning.  We had a very chilly day on the beach where all the kids except Lily swam and I stood around in long johns and all my Boston-winter gear and still felt cold.  Have I gone soft so quickly?  Not long ago I would have braced the water too, but supervising seven kids was enough, without also freezing my tits off.  Hot chips and potato cakes after hot showers eventually warmed us all up.  We went yabbying in the dam (without luck - apparently not the right season for yabbies) and Nina had an unscheduled dip up to her waist when what appeared to be a puddle turned out to be a water-hole.  We saw mobs of kangeroos, a couple of koalas (or the same koala twice, more likely) and had daily visits from the window-bombing kookaburras who, like stray cats, visited at meal-times hoping for a scrap.  We found a skull and some bones of an animal and tried to figure out what it would be - probably a kangeroo we thought.  We saw (and heard) owls, stacked wood, painted (half) the house,  discovered and disposed of the source of the terrible smell behind the fridge, drank a lot of tea, did the cryptic cross-word (not terribly successfully) each night, handquilted a small quilt, played bananagrams, explored, rode a trail-bike, watched the moon wax, checked out the surf, toasted marshmellows, baked scones, read 'Remembering Babylon', slept in and stayed up late.  It was such a superb holiday that the week ahead and all the mundane realities of our daily lives, feels a wee bit depressing.  

Nina's Stick

Whilst I was on craft camp Craig took the girls to the bush for the night with Nana and Pa. Nana is determined that age and dodgy ankles won't inhibit her walking up to the top of the ridge (at least partly because that's the only place she can get mobile reception and she is plugged in to technology, my mother-in-common-law). She invested in some fancy hiking sticks and Nina adopted the idea for herself. She chose a likely looking bit of wood and polished it up with Craig, carved her name in it and gave it a coat of varnish. I had a bit of leather that we threaded through as a strap. I'm quite jealous of this piece actually. Isn't it lovely?

Craft Camp



Lily's interpretation of Craft Camp - lots of stairs and stars apparently



Suse's beautiful old Singer. Similar vintage to my old Singer from my banner



A peek under the table




Laying out my drunkard's path quilt



By the end of camp I had 4 unfinished objects

 

A lot of work and a bit of unpicking needed before this one is finished



Turns out socks are excellent thread magnets

First night after craft camp I had one finished object

What is the oppostie of a vanguard? That is me. Late to blogging, late to Instagram, never joined Facebook, or Pinterest, tipped a toe in twitter but it wasn't for me. I'm not an early adpoter, I couldn't predict a trend, I know nothing about fashion in any form. When I started reading blogs, they were probably already on the wane. The hey day of local crafters connecting through the internet had, no doubt, already occurred. Certainly by the time I started blogging myself I noticed that some of the blogs I'd read had fewer and fewer posts, interspersed with the occasional note of apology or a promise to 'do better' and sometimes just a post to say 'thanks folks but this is it'. The fading of 'the blog' seems to have accelerated recently, possibly as a result of the rise of Instagram and other forms of social media. On how many platforms can one be bothered to remain engaged?

This weekend just past I discovered that those crafters no longer on the blogging landscape, some whom have even (gasp) deleted their blogs, are kicking on crafting and connecting in all sorts of lovely and interesting ways. I was lucky enough to get an invite to Sewjourn, which I'd seen on many a blog over the years and which seemed a sort of crafty nirvana to me - uninterrupted sewing time with like minded people in a dedicated space. It was all those things and more; such good people, such crazy skills, such abundant talent. I liked that people sang along to the music and no one cared. I liked that the food was delicious but not intimidating. I liked that everyone kindly blamed the oven when my cake didn't rise. I liked that some poeple made a zillion things and others made a couple and some people took naps or baths or drew or read. I liked that apostrophes mattered and hair/clothes/makeup didn't. I liked that these women were as keen to get into their pyjamas and get down to some handwork as me. I liked that everyone drank lots and lots of tea - real tea, with milk or not, with sugar or not, but actual tea. In a pot. I liked that everyone now calls their overlocker 'The Overlord' courtesy of Kate's little boy. I liked hearing stories - of families and mothers and the blogging/crafty world I know only a fraction of, of jobs and passions and children and fan fiction and auditioning for 'Stomp' without ever having learn to tap dance.

Such a nice weekend, so hard to return to real life. Upon returning home I sewed up the binding on one little quilt, finished another bunny from the 'Posie Gets Cozy' pattern and wished myself back at Craft Camp.

Emerging Artist

Hansel & Gretel

Letter to Elsie

The artist at work, even before she gets out of her pyjamas

Mother & child fight an invasion of ants

Those pesky ants....

House - with letters and chimney

Ruby and Nina were prolific and talented drawers from what seemed like birth. They had their own entirely different styles, and drew constantly. They always seemed confident in their ability to draw anything, and any resemblance to reality was a secondary concern. Grace took a little longer before she too started drawing all the time but certainly by the time she was in 3 y.o. kinder she was bringing home reams of paper decorated with drawings and paintings and collages.

Lily, however, was different. She never drew much and she didn't increase her output at 3 y.o. kinder. She would get easily frustrated trying to draw the image in her head and would give up quickly. She was a harsh critic of herself, and had to be coaxed to complete anything, or to not scribble out something she had drawn.

But, quite suddenly, she has emerged into her own. I'm not sure whether it is the fantastic art program at her current kinder, or whether it is just a consequence of being 4, or whether it is the growing confidence I see her developing by spending two days a week outside the house without her sisters around, but suddenly she is rarely to be seen without a pen or pencil in hand.

She has hit that stage where the distinction between drawing and writing is blurred. Why would you not populate your drawings with the letters and numbers you have learned? And when combinations of those letters actually spell a real word, it is as if you have cast your own magic spell. I love seeing the rapid leaps children make, the clicking of mental gears as concepts fall into place and their own delight in themselves.  Lily takes a little sketch book with her wherever she goes, practices her alphabet, draws cats.  It's pretty nice to witness.

Scenes from the Fete

The weather held! A few drops of rain late in the afternoon was the worst it got. We even had sunshine break through whilst we were setting up early in the morning. This year's fete was particularly special.

My personal highlight was probably the donation of ALL these hand carved swords, made by Pip, a grade 3 boy, and carefully priced (way too modestly) at 50c  - $1.99.  We re-priced them to a more reasonable $3 and $4 and sold out in about an hour.

You can't really see the adorable little mice tucked away there, but here is proof that there were moments of sun.

Gotta love a wooden version of minecraft.....

Baby goodies were popular.

My lunch: 'chilli con kanga'.  An aussie take on chilli using kangeroo meat.  Delicious and healthy.

I'm not sure what gives away the fact that this is an inner northern school fete most - the skinny jeans, the predominance of dark colours, the baby carrier, the beanies or the fact that this stall is selling vinyl records.  What do you think?

A new activity at this year's fete - fairy terrariums, or dinosaur terrariums if you prefer.  A big hit.

Flower garlands were popular as always.

The pizza ran hot all day.

The crazy hair booth did a roaring trade, as did snow cones, despite the cooler weather.

I'm always blown away by the guys who run the woodwork.

And simple pleasures like the Box Maze still get kids tossing their shoes and waiting for ages for their turn.  The Spooky Forrest was welcomed back, after a year away, by queues all the way down the stairs.

Gayle and her husband made boxes (and boxes) of wooden cut outs - shields, animals, shapes, to decorate.  Just lovely.

So simple, so popular  - toss keys and 'treasure' into the sandpit and let the kids dig for hours to see if they can find the key that unlocks the treasure box.

This is just a tiny section of the always-amazing plant stall.

And finally a cameo appearance by Harvey, the school's unofficial mascot.  Harvey lives in the same street as the school and sometimes wanders into class uninvited, or visits more formally with his owner who talks to the kids about multiple sclerosis.

If you've read this blog for a while, you've probably gathered that the school fete is a very big part of my crafting.  Partly it is because I really like making little projects which are ideal for fetes, partly it's because I enjoy crafting with others a lot and partly it's because I want to contribute to the school community.  Each year I am so impressed by and proud of our fete and feel so pleased and lucky that this is the community I get to be a part of.  The kids just love it and I love that the day is devoted to creative, interesting, funny and unusual ways to entertain, unite and (not unimportant) raise money.  This year I hardly bought anything myself, as we are in the process of packing up before heading off for 3 months.  I did win an item in the silent auction though, that I am extremely happy about - flea treatment, worm tablets, dental care food, a new leash and collar.  Our poor old terrier Pablo had his eye out last week (I'd post a photo but it is a bit gruesome), so I thought he deserved a treat.