Stitching on a Sunny Day

Laura enjoys longstitching Lumpy

while languishing lazily.

(and what better way to pass the time

while feeling sick?)

This girl ...

... has been on 3 camps in the last 2 months

... keeps us all laughing ... or crying.

... is on an elimination diet with Em and I, and we are noticing

the effects of "junk food" on her

... is home sick today.

But really ... would you trust this face????

photos taken the night of one of her camps

Sewing Girl

Last weekend, Emily made a skirt!

With some guidance from me she learnt to follow a pattern

... and cut and sewed the entire skirt.

She persevered to the end, determined to finish it that day.

We started about 10.00am and she finished about 7.30pm.

And look how cute she is!

Loving her boots and skirt style ....

... along with polkadots and ric rac.

Yes, we should have made it the next size up,

but it fits and is perfectly respectable over leggings.

Next time we use this pattern we'll go for the next size so it sits on the hip,

and perhaps lengthen the skirt, also,

so she can wear it in summer.

This pattern would be so cute in a patchwork of fabrics, don't you think?

With some vintage trim ....

Next year Emily will study Fashion and Textile Design at school,

I can't wait to see what she will create.

Love you, Em!

Monday Goodness

Here I am, from a different computer, something else to get used to!

Life has been busy and now I'm trying to tidy up the house for the week. It's lovely to see the sun again!

After all the rain I've got the washing dried at last, and have done some ironing.

The kitchen seems to be messy about 5 minutes after I tidy it ... always something to do there!

Menus need to be planned. We are currently doing the RPA Elimination Diet, so menus are a little trickier than usual, on the other hand there are less ingredients to choose from and buy so now that I'm in the swing of it it might actually be easier to choose our meals!

I've baked some fresh bread and tomorrow will bake some cookies that I mixed on the weekend, they are sitting in the fridge in a sausage shape waiting to be cut and baked. I will try to post that recipe soon, it's a good one.

I can add photos to my blog but can't upload any new photos at the moment, so these are photos from earlier in the year.

What are you doing in your home to start the week?

Computer problems

I haven't been able to post lately, or even to upload photos from the camera, due to computer problems.

Sigh ...

But I have been ...
Knitting my cardigan
Starting a diet to investigate food intolerances
Enjoying school holidays
Getting organized now that term has begun again
Enjoying being back at bible study
Snuggling in front of the heater on cool and rainy days.

Hopefully I will be able to get back to blogging soon, there's only so much I can do from my iPad.

Till then,
Fiona

Thrifted Armchairs

One of the most exciting things (for me!) about our planned extensions

is that I will have a craft room!

My new craft room will also include some living/sitting space,

and my plan was to visit garage sales every Saturday AFTER our building was finished,

until I found two matching (or almost matching)

wing chairs.

... covered in blue velvet,

... old but still in good condition,

and preferably $200.00 for the pair,

(not dreaming of paying any less)

BUT

when I found these two beauties

$80.00 for the pair

at Vinnies the other day,

I knew they were coming home with me ...

... room or no room.

Perfect in every way, except for the colour.

Actually in real life the chairs are a nice deep olive green

And I can work with that.

Add a few crocheted throws and cushions

and some cute vintage stuff.

Yep, I can work with olive green velvet.

So we've stashed them in the workshop for now,

to reappear ...

one day ...

when our building is complete.

Family Holiday

This week we have enjoyed a family holiday at Lilyvale, in the

Royal National Park.

Mum and Dad organised three nights away for us all,

nine adults and seven children,

and the accommodation was just about perfect.

Two buildings and lovely grounds completely to ourselves.

We enjoyed hanging out together,

playing card games

watching movies

playing cricket

bushwalking

and eating

(and eating and eating)!

Some of us even played music.

A holiday sounds good with a backdrop of guitar and mandolin.

Lilyvale is in a deep valley surrounded by bush.

Sunlight was limited to the middle of the day,

(yey for central heating and a log fire!)

but we missed the strong winds that hit Sydney.

Trees fell a few streets away from home, so we are very thankful

our home was unharmed while we were away.

Dreams

Can it really be the 1st of July already?

As I contemplate the next 6 months my mind is focused on one thing:

We are adding a storey onto our house!

The last 3 months or so we have been meeting with an architect

and soon we hope the plans will go to council.

* * *

Our home is a fibro and weatherboard bungalow, built around the 1920s.

It has served us well, and we don't want to leave it, or the location.

(And we don't believe in demolishing a perfectly liveable house).

There are so many things I love about this house.

* * *

But when you have a family who are passionate about music

(and the collection of instruments that follows)

. . . and three females passionate about craft

. . . and two girls, one a teenager and one a tween, sharing a bedroom . . .

. . . not to mention a piano teacher who needs a studio space . . .

. . . three bedrooms and a living room don't go far.

So . . . this is what we are doing:

- only better in real life.

(Notice how the rainbow goes straight into our new first storey?)

Adding two light-filled bedrooms,

a small bathroom,

a little computer nook

and a storage area.

The great thing about this plan is that the architect has managed to squeeze in

a good-sized staircase without losing a room downstairs.

So we get to keep our living room,

(which will be much less cluttered once lots of things move upstairs)

our study/music room remains the same,

and the girls' current room will become a craft room/sitting room.

Yes, a craft room :-)

* * *

So you can see why I'm a little bit excited,

constantly dreaming,

and always having to stop myself from walking up those imaginary stairs

to put something in a room that hasn't been built yet!