When the sun shines....

....my daughter makes scarecrows....

...to scare away the crows from the strawberry flowers that we just discovered....

...and then she made a couple more....

....to keep the birds away from our sunshine filled picnic.

I love seeing the changing of the seasons through my children's eyes, something I never thought twice about before they came into my life.

KCWC ~ doily dress

I have had the idea for this dress in my head for a very long time know and KCWC was the push I needed to give it a go.
I have not been able to get my daughter to stop long enough to model this dress so a coat hanger picture will have to do. As always it sits a little different on her then it does on the hanger {I am sure she will want to wear it to church again this week so I might try and get a photo then}.
I didn't use a pattern so there was alot of improvising along the way. It didn't turn out quite like I had envisaged but I am still happy with it {and so is my daughter which is all that is really important}.
The doilies are from the op shop {this could have easily been called op shop challenge} and I have had the fabric, which I think is chambray for a while {about as long as this dress idea has been in my head}. The dress fabric is also brown not grey as it looks in the photo, though grey would be cute too. This is the first dress that I have made with a zip and I am really happy with it and how easy it was, though I am sure it I did not put it in the conventional way but it works and doesn't look bad.

That is KCWC for me wrapped up.

KCWC ~ raglan tops for my little ones

I made both my little ones a raglan sleeve shirt using an Ottobre pattern.
Hers ~ floral print from op shop ladies shirt.
His ~ navy and robot fabric from op shop men's shirt. With his little robot on clothes obsession the raw edge robot applique means I know he will be happy to wear it.

KCWC show and tell~ robot pants

I made my little man some long pants as well. At the moment he has a little obsession with robots on his clothes and pockets so he is pretty happy to wear these pants {which is why it has taken me so long to post them as they get dirty before I get a photo}. The main fabric is from a pair of men's pants from the op shop that I bought to make little satchel bags for the children with {I still have the pockets so I may get around to it....one day}. I just used a shorts pattern which I extended. The crotch is pretty baggy which is not the worst thing because of his cloth nappy but I think I will need to tweak or maybe make the size smaller next time.

They have robot side and hip pockets as well as a robot waistband.

a recipe~ chocolate mudcake

A couple of years ago I made this cake all the time; it was my never fail-go to desert recipe. Last week was my brothers birthday and he only had one request, could I please make him one of my mudcakes? Here is the recipe.

Chocolate Mudcake

Preheat oven to 150 degrees Celsius and grease and line a large round (I use 28cm) springform cake pan.

In a large pot over a low heat melt together (stirring regularly)

250 grams good quality dark cooking chocolate

200 grams butter

1 tablespoon chocolate nesquick

2 cups white sugar

1 1/2 cups water

Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly before mixing in (I use a whisk)

1 1/2 cups self raising flour

1/4 cup of cocoa

2 eggs

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

Bake for 1 hr 15 min

I find this cake is really sweet and does not need icing, just a dusting of icing sugar and a big dollop of  double cream.

Enjoy.

KCWE show and tell~ apple pants

At this rate I may only be able to tell about what I am sewing my babies as they hit the wash before I get around to taking a photo of them {though I should be happy that they are happy to wear what I make for them- I always say to my friend, who sews for her children, that by the time I get a chance to sew my children much in the way of clothing they will be too old to want to wear it}. Lucky these pants are dark so that the days dirt doesn't show too much.

The fabric for these pants came from a pair of long ladies shorts that I picked up at the op shop for about $2. I just cut up the seams to get the fabric for the four leg pieces though when it came to the second front piece the side pocket and bottom of the fly needed to be unpicked {I hate unpicking}.

I used a shorts pattern to get the basic shape and just extended the length. I also put in some little hip pockets and knee pockets made out of a scrap of apple fabric from years ago. For the waistband I just did  the basic fold over type and did not realise that it is not the best option if you have hip pockets.

I used the original hem from the pants I cut up but then needed to take them up as they were too long {the joys of sewing for your children while they sleep, with no real pattern}. The back fits fine but the front is a bit roomy {it doesn't help that she wears them on her hips instead of her waist} so I will have to tweak my pattern or try another next time. Though my daughter does not mind one bit.

i'm in

This is just the kick in the pants that I need to sew up some of my stash before my husband sees how big it is getting and puts me on a ban.
Last night I did get some sewing done and almost completed two shirts but one still needs it's neck binding and he other needs its threads cut and as of yet I have not been able to get it off my daughter so pictures will come later.
Bring on tonight.

It's been a while

It seems as if my month blogged has not done anything in the way of helping me develop new habits. In my defence I have been on holidays interstate visiting family and I have also been tired, oh so tired {but that is another story}.
I have wanted to record our simple daily moments here that I am afraid are already becoming hazzy in my busy mummy mind {that seems to not hold onto things the way it did before my two babies were born}.
Hopefully I'll be back again soon.

The view from my clothesline- makes hanging the washing seem like a little less of a chore {though at the moment, with the weather warming up, I still enjoy being able to hang the washing outside, instead of clothes racks in my bedroom}

making paper

I have had a unused paper making kit in my cupboard for years now and in the last year have had paper making on my list of things to do. About six months ago I started tearing up paper but that is as far as I got. Until now.

With my two little side kick we tore up more paper though I was surprised that this didn't entertain them for as long as I thought it would {when it comes to tearing up anything important or needed they can go at it forever}.

After soaking the paper overnight all we were waiting for was a little mans nap time. We watched a couple of online tutorials and then got to work. After a couple of gos with me my daughter said she could do it herself and she did a pretty good job {with me only having to help for a step or two}. After we had done a few sheets we ran out side to get some leaves to make imprints.

My daughter loved arranging the leaves on the drying board.

I think we had a bit too much paper pulp for our first time and I ended up on my own (as with the paper tearing) trying frantically to get it all done before my little man woke up. I woke up for the last few sheets and loved siting on my lap watching what I was doing.

So now we have one pile of freshly {hand}made almost cardboard thick paper ready to be used to write letters to special people.

a month blogged- DONE

So a month is over and I completed the challenge, well sort of. Technically I didn't because one week I had three days off one week but if we are playing by averages then I did it. Most of the posts were ones from my family blog that were modified a bit, as I am not sure how much of their identity I am willing to make available to the whole world. Will it mean that this blog will continue rather then just sit here remaining unchanged for however long the Internet lasts? And will I ever tell anyone about it? I don't know. I guess only time will tell.

a change in play

A couple of months ago I made the decision to really decrease the amount of television that my children watched. I wouldn't say that they watched alot of television and what they did watch was often educations or classic Disney movies but I felt it was more then they needed {if young children actually need television at all}. The first week I called it a 'Kids Free Week' {as in ABC kids, the children's television programs} and I cut it out almost all together with them only watching one movie. It was a hard week because we were used morning and afternoon kids programs. But then I noticed a change. They did not ask for it and would go about entertaining themselves more then they had previously. I also noticed that my son, who was around twenty one months} suddenly spent lots of time at the book shelf looking more intently at book after book in a way that he never had before. They started drawing more and my daughters drawing changed dramatically as did the way she played with playdough. They way that they played changed too. More dramatic imaginative elaborate play was taking place. Here is an example.
Yesterday morning my daughter told me that she was on a mission. I wondered what kind of mission she meant so after a few questions I learnt that she was on a mission to Sydney to save all her Sydney cousins from the sea monsters, garden monsters and all the wild animals. She enlisted her little brother, who she also called her husband, on her mission. The were well prepared with lots of supplies including backpacks filled to the brim with lots of essential little things, plastic chillie phones, a boat and maps. Their maps highlighted the rapid changes in technology these days. My daughters's map was a hand draw paper crayon variety.

While my son, who is twenty one months younger and therefore twenty one month more up to date with technology had the GPS instruction book.

They played this ever evolving game for hours, which I was invited into through the constant phone calls from the chillie phones {did you know chillie phones make the noise 'debloop debloop' when they ring}. I love this kind of child directed play where they don't need fancy toys {or any real toys for that matter} that is full of imagination.
I am not against television for children and while there are alot of great educational {whether academic or social/emotional etc} television programs out there developed for children they don't need them. Sometimes {or even more then that} their lives are richer without it. Though I still have to convince my husband.
I am so glad I we made the switch {or turned it off}.

a battle

Today a battle was waged in our house. It lasted all day, except when we were outside. It was between me and a little man who seems to have inherited his fathers stubbornness (and the little bit that I have :) and then doubled it.

It was over one tiny space. Make that two tiny spaces. He wanted the area in question to remain uninhabited.

I on the other hand wanted to see it like this and had decided that I was going to dedicate the day to it if I had to.

I don't know how many times the slippers and socks were but on only to be taken straight off before I had even made it a few meters away. My daughter decided to be her brothers partner and at one stage hid his slippers and socks in a box so I could not put them back on.
After baths it looked like Team Mummy might be wearing the opposition down but I have a feeling after a nights sleep one refreshed little man will be ready to start all over again.
And if the battle is still unresolved in a few days I may have to resort to desperate measures of putting tights under his pants (like I did his sister when she was his age) in a desperate measure to keep little toes warm.

more then just food

In my later teen years up until nearly three years ago my grandfather would sometimes ask us to come to the Hungarian club with him for lunch. He wanted us to go so he could show us off to his friends and spend time with us. We went because it was the right thing to do and also for the langos, a fried Hungarian bread. I now wish that we had gone more often for grandad and am glad that we went the last time he asked us to go before his heart attack.

So tonight I had a go at making langos to have with our dinner and while we were eating it I told children why the bread is special to us {my daughter then told my husbandwhat I said just in case he missed it sitting next to me}. Everyone liked it and I have a feeling that this wont be the last time it is one our table {though being fried bread we might just save it for special times}.
But I wont be making it just for the bread, I will be making it for the memories and the connection it has to my grandparents.

{My brothers and sisters (misus my two brothers who were not born yet), myself and my grandparents. I am the one with my elbow on my grandfathers shoulder.}

my little musician

Today my daughter was listening to a little Jack with her Daddy when she decided she need to get musical too. She asked him to get her ukulele that the the children received from Santa last year {though Santa must have forgotten that we have two budding musician in the house because one ukulele is never enough}.

Normally when she has a play and a sing she always creates mummy lullabies for me which are terribly sweet.
Today she let out her inner rock star.

I have been told

Today was one of those days where no matter how hard I tried, come the evening I feel like I haven't rossed off many things from my to do list. I spent a good chunk of this morning doing stuff for my husband {oh the joys of being self employed} and surprisingly my children pretty much kept themselves busy while I was at the computer {not like them at all}. My daughter had asked me to play with her a few times but seemed to understand when I said that I just had to do this important work for Daddy. Once I was away from the computer she again asked if I would play with her but I told her I would do it later because it was lunch time and I had a few jobs to do while her brother was asleep {the kind that can only be done while he is alseep}. Before I had even got the mop to the floor my daughter was already asking me if I had finished. I told her no and then she went off to play for a little bit. When I was about half way through mopping she came and asked me if I was finished and could I come and play with her. I told her no and that I had lots of jobs to do and that I was trying my hardest and going as fast as I could. She then looked at me and said, in a way that my mum used to when I had been at a twenty minute task for nearly an hour (and barely scratched the surface), "Well you are just not doing it fast enough!"
I had to laugh. I had been told.

After that she decided that if you can't beat them join them and when I finally finished the mopping she helped me with the laundry. And then we got to play.

a simple handmade gift

Earlier this year my husbands workmate and his wife welcomed their first child into their family.

For the new mum I made a wheat and lavender heat pack with a removable cover. On one side of the cover was a nice print, some linen and crochet trim and on the other side was soft cozy minke fleece. I made an envelope opening for quick and easy access (and no buttons or zips to get hot).

For the baby I added to a store bought gift with a little bunny softie made out of  stretchy knit fabric. I wanted to keep it for my own children but that would be like taking toys from a baby so I told myself that I have leftover fabric to make them their own.

Two simple little gifts.
{The tutorial for the bunny was found here}

fail

The other night when I got a chance to sit down at my sewing machine one of the things I wanted to make was a little case for my camera {since it lives in my handbag I thought it the responsible thing to do}.
I loved the way it turned out, it was just what I wanted.

Navy seersucker on one side and natural linen on the other with an image of a camera {in case I forget what is in it}. It has a handy little wrist strap and is padded with thick wadding stuff for extra protection.
One problem...

Fail.
The wadding made everything a little bit tight and my camera does not fit. I wanted it to fit safely and snuggle in and I didn't take into account the the wadding when measuring everything up. I really love my new camera case.
The solution.
Buy a new, slightly smaller, camera?

No, a coin purse I also made that night, that started off the same size, fits my camera in it perfectly {because there is no wadding taking up precious room}.
One more problem.

It is a coin purse so it has no wadding to protect my camera. It also has a clear plastic window. Oh well it will have to do and it least it protects my camera more then no case {and I can see what is in it just in case I forget}.

One of  my daughter's jobs is the recycling. She loves this job. She especially loves it when we take it to the tip and gets very upset if she has to stay in the car because it is wet or we are in a rush.

She loves the task of sorting it out. At home it only get sorted into two different containers, paper and cardboard and then everything else. At the tip the process is a little more tricky and the pictures are not as easy to interpret as the ones we use. Most of the time she peaks over the top of the bin and looks for the one whose contents match the item in her hand.

Normally my little man stays in the car but he is getting a bit older now so we thought we would let him have a go too. For him I put a few items in front of the right bin and he puts them in. A few times I was not quick enough in restocking for him and he would choose his own bin.

On Sunday afternoon while I was preparing dinner I turned around and found my little man on the floor doing this.

This boys eating habits are weird. He doesn't touch his veggies at dinner, not even a taste, (except potato which as far as children are concerned is not counted as a vegetable) but loves to munch on (or at least chew up and spit out) raw carrot, beans and broccoli stalks. I can now add cauliflower and it's leaves to the list. Maybe he is on a raw food diet.
The funny thing is he was choosing to eat the raw cauliflower over fresh backed choc chip cookies that were still warm from the oven.
Maybe he is just trying to tell me something about my cooking.

a slack mum

I am the first to admit that is some areas of my mothering life I am slack. Take playdough for example. We have it in the house and the children get to play with it all the time. But only in one colour. I know that they would love to have more colours to play with, especially my daughter, however I don't like the idea of it turning into one grey brown mess. So they only have one colour at a time. Slack.

Here is the solution.

Play dough in a few colours that wont look bad when they are all mushed together. Brilliant idea! Though I cannot take credit for it. My friend brought some matching playdough to playgroup last year. I loved it and decided to make some. I only just made it this week. Slack again.

I don't think I am going to have a problem with the colour that this playdough will make when it gets all mixed up.

After a few plays we have a couple of balls of marbled play dough. I actually like the way it looks.

I think allowing my children to have play dough in more then one colour almost makes me eligible for the mother of the year award.

a special surprise

Yesterday when we were playing outside my daughter came up to me with her hands behind her back telling me that she had a special surprise for me.

She had {real} flowers just for me.

She even tucked them into my pocket to make sure that I didn't lose them and then went to find me some more.

With freshly picked flowers from my baby girl in my pocket there is no way I cannot feel loved.

tonight I have a date

I have so many ideas of things buzzing around in my head that I want to make that I don't know where to start.
Better go, my date is patiently waiting.

a solution

I find that I miss alot of chances to take photos of my children. Part of the reason is that I don't always have my camera with me. It is big and half the time it is one more thing to put into the bag that may get leaked on or bumped. I also worry that if I am just carrying it around so that I have it on me for when there is that impromtu photo op there is a good chance that it might get damaged, I have already had to replace one lens. I don't like the idea of having to pay to replace my camera if it broke or got damaged but I do love the idea of being able to capture those improptu photo ops.

So here is my solution.
It is shock proof, water proof, dust proof and hopefully handbag/nappybag proof.

this is what today looked like....

because yeaterdayon my family blog I posted a picture of my daughter washing her hair all by herself and said,
"I love to watch my children grow and to see their little personalities develop. I look forward to them reaching their milestones and learning new things. I love it that our relationship deepens. But sometimes a small part of me is saddened when I reflect on moments like this one and I am reminded how fleeting childhood is. Every now and then when I look at my children and get these feelings I ask my daughter if she could just stop growing for a little bit and maybe stay three for another year. She tells me no and that she has to keep growing. Of course she does and I wouldn't want it any other way. Most of the time."
Today my little man needed me. It started the minute he woke up this morning and is still going strong as he cries for me from his bed room.
His need for me seemed to increase, as it always does when I was busy, or showing some affections the other little poppet in our family. Their sibling rivalry does not help. They have this thing going where they will both hold onto my leg saying my mummy and try and push the other one away. I still play that game with my siblings, minus the leg holding. We are always telling each other that we are the favorite and that our parents love us the most. I tell them that Mum and Dad love me so much they moved to interstate to be near me. The others deny it but I know the truth.
Ahh to be loved.

a birthday shirt

My nephew had a birthday this week. His mother said that all he needed was clothes. Which is great because I had been wanting to make a shirt like this one for one of her children. She uses her camera alot. She got her first DSLR less then three years ago and has already had to replace it because she had worn out it's shutter life.

So to the shirt.

Freezer paper prints were all the rage a couple of years ago but because I am such a big procrastinator I have only done it for a few things so it is still all the rage to me ( plus there is no way I can justify to my husband why I need to spend a whole heap of money on a gocco). There are lots of tutorials out there on freezer paper stenciling so I am not going to go into the details.

Here is what I started with.

I found the image of the camera by doing a google image search. I printed it directly onto the freezer paper to save time tracing. (A note on freezer paper for Australians, it is not anything you will find in our supermarkets {please don't try go between} you can get it from spotlight or quilting shops).

One hint that I picked up was rather then buying expensive fabric paint in all the colours that you want you can just get some fabric fixative to mix with regular acrylic paints. Works out alot cheaper and you wont end up with lost of half full fabric paints that you might not ever get through (unless you go freezer paper crazy).

Ta da!

I love the way the shirt turned out (so does my son). I want to make one for myself (and maybe my sister in law) and maybe a tote bag with the camera as well. I did a few layers of paint and was a bit heavy handed with the paint on the last layer so when I washed it it did crack a tiny bit along the grain lines but I think that also might have something to do with the fabric that the shirt is made out of as well.

And one last tip: don't forget to heat set your print before you wash. I know it seems obvious but if you are like me and are trying to do a billion things at once the obvious seems to have a way of slipping my mind.