Happy Birthday Keristofa

Well, hello.

Today is Chris' birthday. Happy Birthday honey!

We had a roast dinner and a delicious Vienetta to celebrate and wore personalised party hats. Yeehaw!

We each made him a card and Caleb and I had a special present to give that we worked on together. Last week Caleb was experimenting with mixing colours, and I thought the end result looked cool. So I scanned in his paintings and went to Snapfish online and ordered a collage poster. It happened to be on sale at the time and including postage cost about $15. Not bad I thought.

The frame is one from Ikea that I had lying about (we have them breeding in this place) and the poster size wasn't quite right. I was determined to make some kind of matte without having to buy anything new. This one is made out of a manilla folder and some fabric, using masking tape and my sewing machine. I am still into yellow in my home decorating. Tis so cheery.

Oh, and he got a Wii. I have to say, it is a LOT of fun.

Giveaway at Tea Pony

Would you like to win this dress? Then visit Esa at Tea Pony to find out how! I love Tea Pony clothes a lot. So pretty.

Good luck!

Parenting by painting

In my last post I alluded to a dreaded lurgy lurking nearby, and at the time I thought it was Chris who was going to get it, but it got me. The whole flu deal. Not nice. Luckily for me, the kids are not sick (must be those multivitamins!) I am getting there, though this morning I discovered I had conjuctivitis (blurgh) and I am obviously not altogether with it as my garage door can testify. oops.

Anyways, let's just talk about craft. I have had my eye on these bossy posters for ages. I decided to DIY. It's not as flashy, but I still quite like how it came out. I scanned the my original painting and then used iphoto on my trusty mac to add the faux photo matte.

This little phrase is something I say a fair bit to the kids, but it is also a good reminder for us adults too.

Pretty in pink

We had a lot of plans cancelled on the weekend because a lot of our engagements were ill. This winter has been ferocious! We are OK, though I think we may be on the edge of a dreaded lurgy. Good thing the kids loooove taking their multivitamins! (Does that help? Who knows.)

While it is awful everyone is so sick, the plus side was a big chunk of unallocated time to craft.

So I made this.

It is a little toooo pink, I think- I chose brown buttons to try and calm the whole pink vibe down. Once their is a little girl baby in there, I'm sure it will look delicious. It is "newborn size" which in pattern speak means enormous, which is good, because the Baby Girl recipient is due in August, so it will be a while before the weather warms up.

Overall it is a pretty easy pattern. I nearly left a safety pin inside...hmmm safety. And I don't like the press stud installation- I think it would have been wise to use some interfacing. I am worried that pulling the press studs apart will tear the fabric.

Anyways, I think it is a cute little baby dress. I might see how it works out in real life for my new little friend before I make anymore though.

Warm hands, Warm heart

I saw these over at The Bird Bath a little while ago and I thought, "I could make that!".

The other morning I was going for a walk and it was awfully chill, and I thought, "Why haven't I made that yet?"

So this weekend I did it. I used a different number of stitches, just popping it around my wrist every so often to make sure they fit. And added a little granny goodness.

I made something else on the weekend too. More about that another time!

Eye Spy... favourite childhood party game

image from here

It's kind of a party game. Did you play sardines?

For those not in the know it is more or less hide and seek. When you find someone, you have to hide with them, so you end up with a lot of people crammed into one hiding spot.

I actually can't remember exactly how it works. I think there are the people who hide, a bunch of designated "sardines" and probably an ultimate "seeker"- if they find you, you all have to run to bar... or something like that.

It is one of those games where each suburb has it's own version- and probably gets a rule change mid play from a disappointed alpha kid.

More Eye Spy over at Cindy's place. Thanks Kirstie for the theme! Twas a little trip down memory lane.

Luna Lovegood: Style guru

I wanted to crochet a light scarf and so to a-Ravelry I went.

I found this great pattern inspired by a scarf that Luna Lovegood wore in one of the Harry Potter movies. (While I love the movies and books, I am no fanatic, or else I would know which book/movie exactly off the top of my head... and I don't. for shame.)

Half way through I realised that I might have mixed up the US/UK terms in my head and had done it all wrong. But I just kept what I was doing consistent as I quite liked how it was turning out anyway. It is riddled with errors and asymmetry, but then, so am I.

I passed this scarf onto my poor sick sister this afternoon, hoping it is imbibed with magical medicinal powers to cure her bronchitis. Get well soon Sairs.

Blog love

The lovely Evie of Handmade Romance blog has honoured me with a blog award. How nice! It's quite pretty actually. Pink and pleasing.

Now, to share the love: there are a lot of blogs I love and still feeling like a bit of a newbie to blog land I feel a bit funny to be "bestowing awards"- however I am going to shake that all off and just pass on the Blog Love to fellow bloggers to whom I am happy they have a blog! How many times can you say blog in one paragraph? One more time. Blog.

Some of you may already have this award. No matter, you can have more than one. Just feel extra loved. Pass it on if you wish.

Idey Spidey

A little bird told me

Pepper stitches

Hoppo Bumpo

Dandelion

Two Peas

My Mama Made it

Filth Wizardry

Clutterpunk

13mimosa

And so, I sew

Tea Pony

Bug and Pop

The Bird Bath

Myrtle & Eunice

Thanks for the inspiration etc!

The comfort of a cardigan

My love for the cardigan is so well known that friends of friends used to refer to me as "cardigan Bek". I didn't mind at all.

It is my Dad's birthday this week, and in light of recent events I wanted to make him something that was comforting and warm. I found this cardigan pattern on Burdastyle and went to it. The fabric range at spotlight was disappointing at the time, but this "tracksuit" fabric is actually quite snuggly, and really that was the feel I was going for. I downloaded a free family crest from a website I now can't find anywhere (I will try and find it and link it here), and printed it onto printable fabric for an applique on the chest. (You can buy a family crest PDF from several websites that are a better resolution, but I went for the cheapie option this time.)

I had to give it to him early so I would stop putting it on. It really is a comfort to wear. Made with the loss of my Grandpa and my grieving Dad in mind, the weight of the fabric and the nod to family, I am so happy with how it turned out. And it fits him!

It was my first attempt at sewing with "knits" and I found it not so different to wovens. Just a stretch stitch and a ball point needle and not having to finish all the seams. An overlocker would make it look a bit nicer inside out, but Dad is unlikely to wear it that way so it hardly matters.

I made a heap of mistakes, but nothing that couldn't be unpicked. I have been trying to not get so frustrated by mistakes and embrace them as part of the process. Getting there.

Thanks again to everyone who has left a message of support last week. It is very much appreciated.

Missing him already

I want to say a sincere thank you to everyone who left a comment on my last post. Your kind words of empathy and support were most touching.

Sadly though, Grandpa George is no longer with us. He faced death with confidence, safe in the knowledge that he was going to be with Jesus.

Oh, but we miss him already. I am sad that I didn't get to see him yesterday. I wish that I had been a bit more proactive about getting to the hospital, but I honestly thought he would be OK. He always was. He was that kind of guy.

We had a party a number of years ago just before he had major heart surgery- an "in case Grandpa doesn't make it party" for the family to get together. He made it. I thought he would make it this time too.

I remember vaguely when I was little Dad receiving a call to say that Grandpa had had a sky diving accident, in which he broke his pelvis, and I think there was also a skiing accident in there somewhere, and perhaps a broken leg or two. He went on a mission to India quite recently, he preached at my brother's wedding just last November- he truly used up each and every one of his 81-or-so years. And however-many-bones too.

He was Godly and wise, but he was pretty cheeky as well, which appealed to us grandkids very much. I will never forget when I was about 10, Grandpa teaching me the song with the lyric, "everybody's doin it, picking their nose and chewin it." At 10 years old, that is the purest of gold.

I will miss watching (and eavesdropping on) Grandpa and Dad yacking away in the corner of family get togethers. I will miss giving him a big hug. I will miss him looking adoringly at my children. I will always be sad that I didn't get to see him "one more time".

But I know that he is happy now. And that we will meet again.

Coping

I've been unsure about what to post here: I made something today, but there was is a whole lot else going on.

I got a call last night from my Dad explaining that my Grandpa is very ill in hospital. So today has been a day of waiting for news. Good news. Bad news. Just any little update to dictate how I should be feeling/acting. The good news is he is stable. The bad news is his condition is still critical. So at this point we still just don't know how this will pan out.

I would love to go and see him. But Caleb and I are sharing a cold and so we are just waiting it out at home. Waiting for a text message or phone call. Just waiting. Hoping and praying that he and we will be better in a day or two so that we can visit.

To help a slow day pass a little more quickly I made Jemima an apron. Coping.

The yellow bit of the apron was an op shop find. It appears to be home sewn and was a little small to fit around my waist. So I refashioned it for Jemima. I had a quick look through my stash and found this vintage gingham and feeling a bit lazy, used some ribbon to make ties rather than make them. Then I chopped off some hem and used the Oliver + S Lazy days skirt tutorial to hem it a bit shorter with the same ribbon I used for the ties.

When I put this on Jem she whispered, "ooooh princess" and refused to take it off until bath time. A nice moment in a sad day.